BOSTON UNIVERSITY

GRADUATE SCHOOL

The sis

THE USE OF PUPPETS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DRAMA

fey

Mary Milumii

(A.B. ,Hendrix College, 1929)

submitted in partial fulfilment of the

requirements for the degree of

Master of Arts

1931

BOSTON UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS

LIBRARY

£>9 4 3

TABLE OF CONTENTSAn. 113)

YoaJ

page

I INTRODUCTION 1

Definition 1

Kinds of Puppets 2

Antiquity and Universality 6

Purpose 10

II ASIA 11

India 11

Japan 17

China 21

Java 22

Persia 26

Turkey 27

III EUROPE 30

Greece 30

Italy 31

Sicily 39

Spain and Portugal 42

Germany 43

France 52

England 57

IV THE UNITED STATES 73

V CONCLUSION 86

VI EPILOGUE 90

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page

VII ‘ SUMMARY 92

VIII BIBLIOGRAPHY 94

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I

INTRODUCTION

The drama has ever been a necessity. The re-

ligious groups satisfied this instinct through pageants

and ceremonies; the educated classes, by classical dra-

ma; while the common folk and children have delighted

in the puppet-show. The large field of dramatics could

nave existed witnout puppets but through them everv

phase of humanity has been touched. Tney are the spon-

taneous expression of primitive people, just as truly

as are folk dramas.

Webster’s New International Dictionary de-

fines puppet as: "A small image in the human form, of-

ten with jointed limbs, moved by the hands or by strings»

or wires, as in a puppet-show; a marionette." The

terms "marionette" and "puppet" are used inter-change-

ably and have the same meaning.

A marionette is not "a puppet moved by strings,

as on a mimic theatrical stage, to imitate human or ani-

mal movements" as simply as that. In the modern way of

thinking, he is a definite art form in the theatre, re-

gardless of his construction. This method of reasoning

has been developed by going back to the beginning. It

is thought that the marionette even preceded the human

actor in the theatres of the ancients. The early mind

of man gained more pleasure from the actions of a wooden

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representa tive of a man than it did from the actual man

himself. These dolls which moved appealed to him.

Children act toward marionettes as though they were real,

in a truly spontaneous manner. In all arts we are com-

ing back to the simple, after having run the gamut of

complexity. The marionette is not new; ne is the old

plus our experience and is all the more valuable because

of his modern sophistication and added flavor of philos-

ophy.

Not all marionettes are worked by wires or

strings from above. There are the Javanese "vayang"

f igures--f lat silhouettes cut from thin leather in a

wealth of exquisite design, which are supported from a-

bove by means of slender wooden rods and played between

a lamp and a transparent screen in a dark room. The

figures xie heroes and mythological cnaracters, and per-

formances are given only on special occasions. When

they are given, they last throughout the night. The

Chinese, the Turks, and the modern Greeks also have shad-

ow shows of tnis description. There was a famous shadow

theatre in Paris, the ”Cnat Noir" . Tnis was created and

run by artists.

Then there is the ”guignol" or "burattino" to

use respectively the French and Italian names for this

type of marionette. There is no Fnglish word for him.

The nearest we can approach this term is through the Ger-

man "hande-puppe " or "hand-puppet”. He is the typical

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Punoh and Judy show, hut the association scarcely mer-

its his tj.ue worth and distinction. The marionette is

built on the operator’s hand, the first finger support-

ing the head and the second finger and thumb animating

the arms. The operator’s wrist corresponds to the pup-

pet’s waist, and the whole is covered by the costume.

He is held up in a floorless stage above the head of

the operator, with only two thirds of the puppet’s bodv

visible to the audience. There he walks and talks and

dances and sings his way through his mimic life.

Nothing could be more simple as he lies on the

floor before you, a crumpled mass of cloth attached to

a carved block of wood; there is nothing mechanical,

realistic, or mysterious about him. He needs only the

hand of an artist to thrill him into life and being.

The "burattino" have been in existence from

the earliest times, especially in Europe. It is likely

that they originated in the Orient, but they have gain-

ed their highest development in Italy, where they stand

abreast of the stringed figures or "fantoccini”. There

are several conjectures about the origin of the French

name, "guignol"; one is that the Italian Guignolini

brought them into Prance. This type of marionette is

found in Germany, Russia, Greece, China and England,

where the Punch and Judy shows are a part of the tradi-

tion of English life. In America there are only two

shows using this type of doll. Remo Bufano, an Italian,

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gives performances with "burattino” in New York. Perry

Lilly has a show of ” burattini” in San Francisco.

Vittorio Malamani says in the Florentine mag-

azine The Marionette . ”Burattini are the caricature;

marionettes, the imitation of man. The former, more

democratic, vagabond through the squares with a modest

castello (a light cloth -covered theatre) and walk with-

out feet because they hold them in the powerful hands of

their father, the showman. The latter, more aristocrat-

ic, and therefore more vain, appear only in the real

little theatres with little boxes, and stalls, and tick-

ets of admission. They have complete limbs, walk with

admirable lightness and always receive from on high,

both speech and the regulative law of their action. The

burattini conservatives par excellence, preserve the

dress and accessories of their progenitors intact; they

are content with their own condition, nor do they change

with the changing of the times.”

Elsewhere he is quoted as saying of the bur-

attini: ." ’What matter if they do not move mouth and

eyes; if they do not have flexible arms and legs; if

their ears are sometimes rooted in the middle of their

cheeks? They are the parody of man and of life and are

just the opposite of marionettes. The more primitive

their forms and movements, the more perfect their humor,

the more complete the reason for their existence.’” (ll

(l) Lilly, Perry:

P. 15

”Burattini” The Prams . October 1S23,

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The third type, the true marionette, is oper-

ated from above by means of strings or wires. To this

third type belong most modern marionettes who astonish

their audiences by imitating the actions of human beings,

even to opening and closing their eyes.

Blander Matthews in discussing two types of

puppets says, "Magnin, who wrote a learned history of

the puppet show from the remotest antiquity, did not dis-

criminate sharply between the two extremely different

xinds of little figures, both of which are carelessly

called puppets in England and marionettes in France. One

of these classes comprises these empty and flexible fig-

ures which are animated by the thumb and two fingers of

the performer, who exhibits them by holding his hands a-

bove nis head, as in the Punch and Judy shows. The oth-

er of these two classes contains the larger dolls, sus-

pended on wires (which are supposed to be invisible) and

manipulated by one or more performers overhead, who give

action and life to the puppets by pulling the various

strings which control those members of the puppets 1 bod-

ies which are required to move by the action of the play.

These last are the true marionettes; for the first we

have, unfortunately, no distinctive name. Both of these

two sorts of puppets can be traced bact to the scanty

records of a remote antiquity; although it seems more

likely that the true marionette, the little figure moved

by wires from overhead, is the older of the two, ante-

dating by many centuries the Punch and Judy shows which

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owe their abrupt and awkward movements to the human

thumb and fingers. Both classes are to be found today

all over the world, not only in the cities of civili-

zation but in unsuspected nooks and corners of all

shores of t.ue seven seas.

"In Turkey, under the name of Karaguez, there

is a Punch and Judy show of enormous popularity and of

doubtful decency, while in Siam there are marionettes

which perform religious plays of traditional appeal.

The puppet-show of one type satisfies that dramatic in-

stinct which every people possess in greater or less in-

tensity." (1)

Puppets do require a proof as to their value.

They have three thousand years of uninterrupted tradi-

tion behind them, which proves the universality of their

appeal. Marionettes played their parts in the hanging

groves of Babylon. Puppets of terra, cotta amused the

children of the kings of the File, before the days of

the Pharaohs. Their history reaches back into the dawn

of civilization, before written chronicles began. Men

from Sargon I to Bernard Shaw have been entertained by

them. Boys and girls of India smiled at the antics of

the dolls that moved, while Alexander was on his way to

invade their land in 326 B.C. In Carthage, Athens,

Sparta, Alexandria and Rome gamin and rulers* sons alike,

xnew their fascination. Puppets played in Pompeii at

(1) Matthews, Brander: "Puppet Shows Old and Few"

The Bookman Dec. 1914, p. 379

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the time of its destruction; in Florence at the time

of the plague; in London when Raleigh returned from A-

merica.

These wooden images have come down to us from

China, India, Burma, Fgypt and the cathedrals and fairs

of the Middle Ages. In this twentieth century, all over

Turkey and Southeastern "Europe, puppets are a popular

form of entertainment in the theatres as well as in the

cof i ee-nouses

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Yorrick (P. Ferrigni) believes that puppets

were invented by priests of an ancient civilization near

the Nile. (1) The first puppets were huge statues of

idols which spoke, breathed fire, and ipoved. Inside the

statues -7ere concealed the priests who caused the idols

to speak. A priest conceived the idea of miniature gods

who would act out the religion he, the priest, upheld.

Puppets may have been born for this purpose. In time

this came to be a little drama of the beginning of things.

Gayet wrote of a marionette theatre discovered

at Antinoe, which wa.s used for the presentation of a

passion play upon the anniversary of the death of Osiris.

This theatre is the oldest which has yet been discovered

by archaeologists. It was discovered in the tomb of

Khelmis, singer of Osiris. (2) We may imagine that at

such a theatre, Cleopatra learned the mysteries of the

religion which she was to uphold as its high priestess.

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(1) Joseph, Helen: "A Book of Marionettes", p. 15

(2) Brooks, George S. : "Memoirs of Marionettes"Centuryp. 578

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In the tombs of Memphis end Thebes many puppets have

been unearthed. Many of these are of wood and are pos-

sessed of limbs which can be moved by strings. Some

authorities believe that puppets had their origin, not

from religious frauds in the forms of statues, but in

the simple amusement afforded a child by some fond par-

ent who was willing to make his child's playthings a

little more realistic and, accordingly, a. little more

pleasurable to his youngster.

The puppet-play has in its time invaded vir-

tually all civilized countries and every field of dramat-

ic art, changing in turn from comedy to religious and

liturgic, and again to civil and artistic drama. Per-

haps no other stage has so clearly reflected the passion

of the moment, or has been imbued more thoroughly with

the spirit of the time in parodies, satires, and daring

farces; and with it must be associated many great names

of those who have been fascinated and inspired by its

quaint magic --Goethe , Haydn, George Sand, Ben Jonson,

Swift, Maurice Maeterlinck, and many others. As former-

ly the puppets transformed themselves with the transfor-

mation of ancient into modern society, cnanging from

slaves to citizens, from Gentiles into Christians and

from religious persons to civil and artistic ones, so

to-day th*“y are the typical persons of our time. It is

natural when we consider that, at all times, the marion-

ettes have followed step by step, if they have not at

times preceded, the transformations of the society in

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wnich they lived.

Helen K. Joseph says, "The story of the mar-

ionette is endless, in fact it has neither beginning

nor end. The Marionette has been everywhere and is ever-

ywhere.

I wish to disc ant on the marionette

One needs a keen taste for it and also a little

veneration

,

The marionette is august; it issues from a sanctu-

ary. ’

Anatole France.

"Perhaps the most impressive approach to tne

marionettes is through the trodden avenue of history.

If we travel from distant antiquity where the first ar-

ticulated idols were manipulated by ingenious, hidden

devices in the vast temples of India and Egypt, if we

follow the footprints of the puppet through classic cen-

turies oJ Greece and Rome and trace them even in the

dark ages of early Christianity whence they emerged to

wander all over medieval Europe, in the cathedrals, a-

long the highways, in the market places and at the courts

of kings, we may have more understanding and respect for

the Quaint little creatures we find exhibited crudely in

the old popular manner on the street corner or presented

upon the art stage of an enthusiastic generation. For

tne marionette has a history. Ho human race can boast a

longer or more varied, replete with such high dignities

and shocking indignities, romantic adventure and humble

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routine, triumphs, decadences, revivals. Ho human race

has explore! so many curious corners of the earth, ad-

apted itself to the characteristic tastes of such diverse

peoples an!, nevertheless, retained its essential, indi-

vidual traits through ages of changing environment and

ideals.” (l)

This thesis does not attempt to give the entire

history ^f the puppets in all lands. Such a work would

require volumes and years of investigation. It shall be

the purpose of this author to give the reader an insight

into the field of puppetry by presenting interesting

bits of information from several countries.

(l) Joseph, Helen: "A Book of Marionettes”, p 14-15

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II

ASIA

In Asia, puppet-plays have a much longer his-

tory than those in Europe or the United States. It is

customary in studying drama to devote the most time to

England and the United States, but since puppets have

been such a vital part of the Asiatic drama, it has been

necessar., to give a considerable amount of time to the

Oriental countries. Puppetry has meant more to these

people than it has to the western nations; it occupied

a high place in their dramatic world. Because puppets

have been such an influential element in the drama of

Asia, it is important that we know their history.

nroiA

There is no doubt that fairy tales had their

beginnings in India and from there were transported to

Persia and Central Europe. It is much easier to at-

tribute a birth place to fairy tales than to puppet

plays, for they were written down. Puppet plays were

passed orally from father to son and as a result none of

them have been preserved from antiquity. It is of

little matter whether puppet-plays had their origin on

the banks of the Ganges, in Egyptian religious dances,

in Turkish shadow plays, or in the statues of the Greek

gods. It is sufficient to know of their indisputably

ancient lineage and the honorable position granted them

in the legends of gods and heroes. Certainly the pup-

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pet has always been a part of Indian drama and as Pro-

fessor Pischel believes--it preceded the regular drama,

has outlived it, and is the only form of dramatic ex-

pression at the present known to the country peoples.

Pischel in his book, "The Home of the Puppet Play”, has

prepared the most authentic account of puppets in India.

A greater part of the facts here presented are based on

Pischel* 3 work.

The early puppets of India were made from wool,

buffalo-horn, wood, and ivory. Some were worked by ma-

chinery, some by threads. In the Kathasari tsagara, a

collection of stories by Kashmiri Somadeua, the daughter

of a celebrated mechanician, gave her friend Princess

Kalingasena some mechanical puppets which her father had

made. In each puppet was a wooden peg, and when this was

touched one of them danced, another flew through the air,

or a third carried on a conversation. The talking pup-

pets on the stage were usually manipulated by a thread

(sutra), worked by the puppet player. A reference to

such puppets is found as far back as the Mahabharata.

In this book, men are compared to puppets because they

have no will of their own and receive their pleasure,

sorrow, or pain from their controller, God.

The dramatist Rajahsekhara in the lGth century

used life-sized walking and talking puppets. His two

jointed puppets represented the persons whom they imi-

tated so well that they were taken for the living beings.

From Rajahsekhara we learn the tenth century name for

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puppet--sutradhara,

i.e., tnreadholder . This is still

tne name for a puppet player in India.

In regular drama, in the beginning of the

play the stage-manager comes forward, utters the bless-

ing, and introduces the prologue. As in the puppet

play, he is called sutradhara. "From this fact", writes

Pischel, "as early as 1879, a native scholar of European

education, Shankar Pandurang Pandit, drew the reasonable

conclusion that performances by puppets must have pre-

ceded those by human beings. Otherwise it is impossible

to conceive how the term sutradhara could be applied to

a stage-manager, who has nothing whatever to do with

threads." (1)

One type of Indian performances was the travel-

ling show which consisted of dancers, jugglers, magi-

cians, and puppeteers. This sort of entertainment, de-

spised and considered vulgar by the cultured classes,

has for untold centuries been popular with the masses.

Possessed of no theatre, the entertainers wander from

village to village to exhibit their tricks. They are not

famous dramatists and it is only natural that their

names should vanish. But they have done much to pre-

serve the folk lore and legends.

The puppet-player not only brought his dolls

on the stage and spoke for them, but he ma.de them. It

was customary for two men to enter a partnership as one

(l) Pischel: "The Home of the Puppe t-Plav" , P.9.

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seldom had the two qualities of making and exhibiting

tne figures. A player who possessed both accomplish-

ments generally belonged to the working class. Bertrand

ol France was an 18th centurv gilder; Powell, early in

the 19th century, Geiselbrecht and Teridler were German

wood -carvers. Because of their training, mechanics and

tailors were especially suited for one side of the pup-

pet-player’s art.

"It was probably much the same in India as in

Europe. I have already mentioned that Maga and Visar-

ado, the only two puppet -makers whose names we know,

are described as mechanicians. We are entitled to as-

sume that in the puppet-show the sutradhara was the ac-

tor, who moved the puppets and spoke for them: the

Sthapka, the man, whose duties consisted, first and

f oiernost,in making, mending, and putting them on the

stage. However, that may be, it is certain that two of

the most important members of the personnel of the old-

est Indian stage have, as their names show, been taken

over from the puppet-play. And this is not the only

fact which tends to prove that the Indian drama was de-

veloped out of the puppet-play." (1)

In the " Vasrabunden",Haltei has the puppet

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player say that those who perform puppet-shows are an

old fraternity that has survived from the dark ages.

The texts are not written "but transferred from player

(l) Pi sc he 1: "The Home of the Puppet-Play", p* 12.

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to placer. The same custom of acting without a, book

exists today. Classical dramas nave been more fortu-

nate in that they have been recorded. "But in their

mixture of prose and verse they retain a clearly recog-

nizable trace of their origin from popular plays with

improvisation, and these popular plays must, in the

first instance, have been puppet-plays, of which they,

according to the .judgment of eye- Twitnesses, sometimes

directly remind us." (l)

The most characteristic feature of Indian

drama is the person of the buffoon, VidusaJia. He is the

fundamental type of comic character, and probably the

prototype of them all. His ugliness makes him a source

of general amusement as also does his stupidity, which

is often assumed; his acts, dress, figure, and speech,

excite merriment; and his vanity, ignorance, and cow-

ardice, are well-defined traits of this hunchbacked

dwarf with protruding teeth. Professor Pischel follows

this little comedian as he wandered from India with the

gypsies. In Turkey he became metamorphosed into Kara-

gheuz, after having served as an original for buffoons

of Persia, Arabia, and Egypt. The Italians called him

"Arlecchino",

the Germans, "Harlekin", "Kasperle", and

"Hans Wundt"; the people of Naples, "Pulcinella." ; the

English, "Punchinello", shortened into "Punch"; the

French "Polichinelle " ;the Dutch, "Jan Klaasen"

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(1} Pischel: "The Home of the Puppet-Play", p. 16.

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In recent days, P.C. Jinauaravamsa, a priest

and prince of Siam, has written an article on the

aesthetic worth and popularity of Indian puppets today.

“Beautiful figures six to eight inches high, represent-

ing the characters of the Indian drama, "Ramayana” are

made for exhibitions at royal entertainments. They are

perfect pieces of mechanism; their very fingers can be

made to grasp an object and they can be made to assume

postures expressive of an action or emotion described

in poetry: this is done by putting strings which hang

down within the clothing or within a small tube attach-

ed to the lower part of the figure, with a ring or a

loop attached to each, for inserting the fingers of the

showmen. The movements are perfectly timed to the mu-

sic and recitation of singing. One cannot help being

charmed by these Lilliputs, whose dresses are so gor-

geous and jeweled with the minutest detail.” (l)

The gypsies, whose home is in India, have al-

ways been and still are skilled puppet-players. These

wandering people have carried their entertainments ev-

erywhere. The puppet-play has continued to be the fa-

vorite child of the mass of the people, because it

owes its origin to them. Indian puppet-shows were a

clearer mirror of the feelings of the people than the

highly polished poetry and were often the vehicle of

old traditions. They were the most ancient form of

(1) Joseph, Helen: “A Book of Marionettes”, p. 34.

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dramatic representation and may have been tne germ for

all other puppet-shows. If we follow the history of

the puppets, we are led back, inevitably, to India..

•JAPAIT

The puppet show was an ancient art before it

reached Japan, but once it reached this country, it de-

veloped rapidly and has been wonderfully preserved.

All through the mediaeval period, dancing dolls had

been carried by minstrels from village to village, to

supplement songs and tricks. "There were blind men who

sat near the temples and sang long dramatic ballads, but

who, of course, lacked any means of interpreting their

songs by action. Eventually these performers were drawn

together, by mutual interest, and according to one au-

thority, by the introduction into Japan of the samisen,

a stringed instrument imported from the Soo Choo Islands

though probably of Chinese origin. The samisen, which

ever since has been the musical mainstay of the popular

theatre, lent itself admirably to the accompaniment of

long narratives. The result was that around the year

1600 the Doll Theatre made its appearance, and ballad

dramas, called Joruri (after the leading character in

the first famous one) were acted by puppets to the

| strains of the samisen, while the story itself was chant

ed." (1)

Henri Joly traces the puppet-play back to

( 1 ) Hughe s

:

"The Story of the Theatre", p. 43-44.

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antiquity. It nas become so recognize! an! important

that living actors copy the manners an! conventions of

the marionette. The puppets are so expensive an! elab-

orately costume! that the theatres in which they per-

form are sometimes specially taxei. The lolls are about

half life size an! are not operate! by strings or rols

from beneath but by puppeteers who appear on the stage.

These operators work in full view of the audience with

the dolls in front of them; clothed in dark, unnotice-

able garments, they keep the attention focused on the

puppets rather than themselves. Sometimes two or three

operators are needed for one loll, for they are con-

structed in a complex manner that allows diversity of

movement. The words are real by the chanter who is ar-

rayed in a. splendid ceremonial costume. As this artist

reads loudly and musically, he is generally accompanied

by a player of the samisen. In the more elaborate per-

formances choruses assist these chanters. Some shows

have consisted of as many as thirty-three chanters,

twenty -nine samisen players, forty manipulators, and

several lamp cleaners and stage men. (l)

In the seventeenth century the marionette

theatre attracted a large following of dramatists, mech-

anicians, and spectators. In 1685, Takemato Gidayri,

samisen player and puppet showman, founded an important

puppet theatre for which some of the best Japanese

(l) Joseph: "A Book of Marionettes p. 46.

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classical drama was written. Chikamatsu Monzayemon,

(1653-1724) the Shakespeare of Japan, with his pupils

wrote about one hundred plays for this theatre. These

epic dramas are an advance over the first puppet plays

inasmuch as they contain long poetic passages instead

of the customary narration. For the early ballad dra-

mas, were substituted plays of mythology or military

life. In 1703, a rival marionette theatre was estab-

lished and this too, attracted the most noted drama-

tists of Japan. Izuma, Sosuki, and Chikamatsu, out-

standing playwrights of Japan, were the products of the

puppet theater. Chikamatsu 1 s most famous play is"The

Battle of Kakusenya", the hero of which was a celebra-

ted pirate. Here is found one of the characteristic

situations of Oriental drama; the conqueror asks the

defeated enemy for his favorite wife. A variation of

this theme is used by Maeterlinck in "Monna Vann a"

.

Chikamatsu was never dull, had the gift of diverting

the attention from improbabilities, and made nis char-

acters behave like tragic heroes. The plays were most-

ly of a heroic nature as ’’The Battle of Kakusenya",

'•The Loyalty of the Five Heroes", or "The Revenge of

the Saga Brothers": some were realistic as, "The

Woman's Harakari", and often thev were romantic dramas

in which the lovers suffered a double suicide.

The puppets did more than inspire dramatists:

they were the incentive for realistic settings and the

invention of stage machinery. They became so important

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that managers brought into their service extraordinary

raecnanical devices by which eyeballs and eyebrows could

be moved, lips would seem to whisper or talk, fingers

would grasp a fan, and tiny figures kneel or dance.

The stage had scenery, trap doors, and trapeze appli-

ances. -Tapanese craftsmen, world-famous for their 3kill,

were attracted to the Doll Theatre by the opportunity

it offered for novel and ingenious effects. The art of

conjuring had always been associated with Japanese pup-

petry, and now that mysterious dramas were being acted,

mechanical cleverness was desirable. One result of the

marionette theatre was the revolving stage, its first

appearance in the world. Prom Japan it spread to Eur-

ope and .America. Other realistic representations ap-

peared; scenes painted in perspective, .landscapes,

houses, bridges, all in sharp contrast to the classic,

unadorned settings.

"There have been as many as two hundred epic

poets writing for the puppets and over a thousand dra-

mas have been composed for them. In feudal Japan,

where higher education was confined to the priests and

to the Samuria, the characters were important educators

of the masses who derived their conceptions of patriot-

ism, loyalty, and ethics from the impeccable sentiments

of the heroic epic drama." (1^

About the beginning of the eighteenth centu-

(l) Joseph: "A Book of Marionettes" p. 49

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ry the marionette theatre began to decline and writers

ceased to write plays suitable for puppets. The lowest

ebb was reached in tne early part of tne 19th centurv.

Recently it has revived, and in its modern home, Osaka.,

enjoys a remarkable popularity. There are travelling

puppet-shows but outside of Osaka there are no station-

ary ones. These shows have suffered not so much from

living actors as from the moving pictures. It is a de-

feat of puppets by puppets. Tne doll theatre has great-

ly influenced the Japanese drama through its stage me-

chanics, plays, and methods of acting.

CHINA

"Punch and Judy are more frequently seen in

the East than in the West and are probably a product of

the Chinese imagination." (l) Every writer thinks that(

the country about which he is writing was responsible

for the ancestry of Punch and Judy.

China can rightfully boast that her shadow

plays, which are as old as the country itself, have at-

tained a degree of perfection higher than those of most

other countries. It is only the Chat Noir in Paris

that has within modern history approached the magical

beauty of these quaintly designed marionettes. The

Chinese Empeior Muk of the Chow dynasty who lived a

tnousand years before the Christian era, brought back

(l) Buss: The Chinese Drama" p. 24-25.

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witn him from Tuikestan skilled slaves who knew how

to construct marionettes.

The simpler type of puppet show is presented

by a showman upon the street corners to all those en-

thusiasts of his art that can crowd around him. His

stage is placed upon his shoulders. With its open side

to the audience, his head enclosed behind this stage,

he uses his fingers to move the dolls. In rough, real-

istic humor he entertains all those many children and

workers who can enjoy no othei form of drama.

Although the large stationary marionette

theatres are equipped with elaborate scenery and expens

ive dolls, they present their stories no more vividly

than the strolling puppet-player. The plot is general-

ly the story of the beautiful princess, guarded by a

dragon and rescued by a prince. At the conclusion, the

marriage ceremony allows a chance for spectacular dis-

play. For the court of the emperor, historic and ro-

mantic dramas were often presented. There are some

parts of the country which begin every dramatic perform

ance with a marionette show. The puppets were the ac-

tors in religious and mystical plays, myths, comedies,

and historic legends.

JAVA

The history of the puppets in Java is based

chiefly upon Hughes’ book, The Story of the Theatre .

If we except the major civilizations of China, India,

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and Japan, we find no Oriental country having s strong-

er influence on our modern arts than that of Java.

This influence comes mostly from the theatre, for all

of the arts are dependent upon the theatre. The Javan-

ese, liKe other members of the Malayan race, worship

their ancestors and it is to this practice that we owe

the development of their theatre. Shadow-puppets were

carved from hides of animals and these were supposed to

evoke the spirits of their ancestors. These plays are

one half mystical and religious, one half heroic and

nationa.l in character. ’.Veil known feats of the native

gods and princes, the battles of the royal armies, ad-

ventures with giants and fabulous creatures are based

upon old Indian saga, pan j i legends, and native fables.

These grotesque forms, called "vayang purva",

have incredible profiles, long lean arms and curved

pointed fingers. Originally the head of the household

operated these figures, then the priests, and finally

professional manipulators. The operator sits on a mat

between a lamp and screen and controls the puppets by

means of wooden sticks attached to their arms. The at-

tention of the audience is not centered upon the puppet

but to the moving shadows it casts upon the screen.

The "vayang purva" have existed for so many

years that their origin is uncertain. They can be

traced back only to the seventh century, but it is like

ly that they have a much older history. First, they

were used for religious purposes and then for all kinds

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of Malaj o -Polynesian m^ths. Tne Mahabharata and the

Ramayana, epic tales of India, furnished dramatic mater-

ial for Java as well as for the Hindustanis.

The audiences were not satisfied with the

shadows of the "vayang purva" and we find an evolution

in tneir form as well as the change in repertoire from

religious rituals to myths. There were four stages in

the metamorphosis. The first one was the "vayang purva”

which was followed by "vayang llitik". The puppets were

brought nearer reality as they were no longer used to

cast shadows but were themselves seen by the audience.

These "vayang klitik", carved from soft wood in double

sided relief, looked much more like human beings than

the hide shadows. Such a. change coincided chronologic-

ally with the secularisation of plays and is indicative

of tne whole movement against ancestor worship.

The third step was a continued advance from

the grotesque to normal human appearance. Again we

have wooden puppets, called "vayang golek", which were

carved in the round and thus could be shown from all

sides. There is notning new in their designs; it is

their manner of costuming, for tney were dressed in

real clothes only from the waist down.

Most significant of all in this development

is the last stage which probably occurred about 1000 A.D

The "vayang tapeng" are not puppets, but living actors

costumed and masked to resemble puppets. These living

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actors conduct themselves as the pu^p^ts do; their

lines are spoken by the "dalareg"; tneii movements

are the conventional ones of the puppet. It is for-

tunate that these four types of puppets have been pre-

served for us, for in the revival of pu poetry in the

twentieth century the Javanese shadow had its place. E

ven the "vayang purva" ,with his exotic profile and fas

cinating gestures, has present-day admirers.

"The theatre is the origin of all the arts in

Java. Serving and painting are limited to the crea.tion

of puppets: literature is almost exclusively the drama

of the "vayang"; dancing is the heart end soul of thei

theatrical expression: music is composed and rendered

in teims of dramatic accompaniment: the "pendap^.o" (a

pillared hall with a. roof, but open to the air on two

or three sides) is a type of building designed for "va-

yang" exhibitions, and is the only strictly native con-

tribution to architecture. Even the batiks, so famil-

iar nowadays to all Westerners, find their principal

motifs in the theatrical figures and symbols. Indeed

it is unlikely that any other civilization is so com-

pletely expressed in terms of theatrical art as is the

Javanese.

"This theatre, off the beaten path, and with-

out great pietensions, may well be considered by stud-

ents of the theatre as a striking example of the evo-

lution from religious ritual to secular art, from a

world of supexstition to a world *of realit.y--the evo-

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lution which is nearly all parts of the world is the

story of the theatre", (l)

PERSIA

Omar knew puppets in Persia.

"We are no other then a moving row

Of Magic Shadow--shapes that come and go

Found with the Sun -illumined Lantern held

In Midnight by the Master of the Show:

"But helpless Pieces of the Game He plays

Upon this Chequer-board of Mights and

Day s

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Kitner and thither moves, and cneciLs, and

slays

,

And one by one back in the Closet lays."

Shadows are mentioned by the poet Muhammed

Assar in 1085, when they appear to have been in popular

favor. In recent times the well-educated Persian has

looked down on this form of entertainment. It is only

the wandering showman, who plays in open places or is

invited into homes to amuse guests and children, that

still has his following.

"In Turkestan and in Central Asia puppet

i

shows are a very popular diversion along with the feats

of .jugglers and dancers. There are two types of pup-

(l) Hughes: "The Story of the Theatre", p. 23.

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pets existing, one the very diminutive dolls carried a-

bout by ambulant players whose extremely naive dialogue

is composed chiefly for the amusement of children. The

other, on a larger scale, is to be seen on small stages

erected in coffee houses or at weddings and other pri-

vate celebrations.

"R.S. Rehm gives a description of a crude

little marionette theatre in Samarkand- -It was called

•Tschador Cha.iol', Tent of Fantasy. The puppets reveal-

ed Indian origin, but their huge heads, with the cloth-

ing merely hung upon them, indicated Russian influences.

There was one scene of modern warfare with tov cannons

hauled upon the stage. Then came a play within a play.

Yossaul, the native buffoon, was a sort of master of

ceremonies. Various comical and grotesque marionettes

appeared, whom he greeted and led to their places. The

king himself entered upon a miniature horse, dismounted

and seated himself on a throne in the tiny audience.

The performance for His Majesty consisted of puppet dan-

cers, puppet jugglers, and last of all, a marionette

representing a drunken European dragged away by a native

policeman. At this point the small and also the large

audience expressed great delight." (l)

TURKEY

The shadow and puppet plavs are chief repre-

sentative of drama in many of the Oriental countries.

(l) Joseph: "A Book of Marionettes", p. 30-31.

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Sucn is the case in Turkey.

’•The pieces of the Turkish theatre have never

yet been printed, so that it is difficult to establish

the laws of their construction, but Maindron says:

’There must be intrigue, and the play must be obscene,

to give satisfaction to a Turkish audience, though it ri-

ses at times to tne nighest solemnity’; and Rehm states

that there are pieces free from unclean wit and licen-

tiousness.” (l)

The hero is a lustful scamp by the name of

Karagheuz (Black Eye) and the plot centers about his

tricks, indecencies, and satirical comments on the life

around him. The vulgarity of these performances is re-

deemed only by the dexterity of the manipulator and the

beauty of the production. The plays are often presented

in the coiner of a coffee house.

These Karagheuz plays with their broad jokes

are presented in Syria, Palestine, Arabia., Egypt, Tunis,

Tripoli, and Morocco. They are Quite different from the

beautiful religious performances given by Spanish or Jav-

anese puppets. If puppet-plays reflect the personality

of the country, the plays in these countries are not ver-

y complimentary. They are filled with obscene incidents

and the characters are regular rogues. Guy de Maupassant

in "Vie Errant" says: "We must not forget that it was

only a few years ago that the performances of Caragoussa,

(1) Curtis: "Dramatic Instinct in Education”, p. 181

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a. kind of obscene Punch and Judy, were forbidden. Chil-

dren looked on with their large black eyes, some ignor-

ant, others corrupt, laugning and applauding, the improb-

able and vile exploits which are impossible to narrate." (l)

There are other countries vmich have always

been entertained by puppets but these snows have never-

had the influence on dramas as have those of India, Ja-

pan, Italy, Germany, France, and England. Siam nas its

wooden puppets which produce a highly stylized effect

by their queer costuming. The puppet -stage of Burma

seems more highly developed than the regular drains and

here we find fantastic legend combined with realistic hu-

mor. Mr. Arthur MacLean describes an annual celebration

which occurred at Ananda, the famous old Buddhist site.

The temple puppets began their performance early in the

evening by presenting material interesting to children.

After the children fell asleep serious and religious ma-

terial were presented the rest of the night. (2)

(1) Joseph: "A Book of Marionettes", p. 39

(21 Joseph: "A Book of Marionettes", p. 30

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III

EUROPE

GREECE

Early in Grecian development, priests found

s means of making idols move and speak. There were the

famous oracles, huge puppets in realitv, which kings

consulted. As in Egypt, these articulated statues led

to the invention of the miniature figures that we know

as puppets. Heron of Alexandria, two centuries before

Christ, described the mechanics of a doll theatre, which

had been invented by Philo of Byzantium. Greek and E-

gyptian marionettes were made of terra-cotta., ivory, or

of wood and leather, "^ven tragedies were presented at

the doll theatres, and there is some reason to believe

that farce, as a distinct type of dramatic entertainment,

grew out of the unskilled efforts of amateur showmen to

make their miniature actors play the classic tragedies.

’’Xenophon and Aristotle speak of them, and records show

that, besides those in the homes of wealthy Athenians,

public performances were given.” (l) Xenophon makes the

puppet-player from Syracuse assert that he esteems fools

above all other men as they were the spectators of his

puppet-plays and consequently his means of livelihood. (2)

The puppet-player Patneinas was so much sought after in

(l^ Curtis: "The Dramatic Instinct in Education”, p.177

(2) Haigh: ”The Attic Theatre”, p. 178

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Athens that he was given the stage on which Euripides

had excited the populace.

Yorrick writes, "Greece from remotest times

of which any accounts have come down to us ha.d marionette

theatres in the public places of all the most populated

cities. She had famous showmen wnose names, recorded on

the page of the most illustrious writers, have triumphed

over death and oblivion." Eminent mathematicians inter-

ested themselves in perfecting the mechanism of the doll

until, as Apuleius wrote, "Those who direct the movement

of the little wooden figures have nothing else to do but

to pull the strings of the member thev wish to set in

motion and immediately the head bends, tne eve s turn,

the hands lend themselves to anv action and the elegant

little person moves and acts as though it were alive." (l)i

The "Apotheosis of Bacchus" and "The Tragedy of Fauplius"

were puppet shows written bv the celebrated Heron of Al-

exandria, who lived two centuries before Christ.

ITALY

From Greece, the marionettes went to Rome,

where leaders of thought, jurists, legislators, magis-

trates, and generals became their nations and sponsors.

They were favored as after dinner entertainers in the

days of the Caesars. Horace mentions them as one of the

interesting things he had seen. Cicero, Ovid, Livv, and

(l'l Joseph: "A Book of Marionettes", p. 18

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Marc us Aurelius at one time or another compared men to

puppets moved by strings. Petronius, Rome’s most famous

man about town, said that he preferred puppet women to

the fashionable women because thev were more graceful and

only said the words that were put into their mouths. As

in Greece,

there were puppet shows given along the roads

for the common people and in private homes for the phil-

osophers and poets.

"The personages of the Roman puppet stage

generally represented obvious and amusing types of human-

ity: their repertoire consisted chiefly of bold satire

and parodies on popular dramas. The conventionalized

characters of Roman marionette theatres were not at all

dissimilar from the later heroes of the Italian ’Fantocci-

ni’. A bronze portrait of Maccus, the Roman buff on,

which was unearthed in 1727, might serve almost as a

statue of Pulcinella, hooked nose, nut-cracker chin,

hunchback and all. In fact it is thought that these Ro-

man mimes or ’sanni’ have lived on in the Italian ’bur-

attini’, and in the characters of the Commedia dell ’ .Arte. " (l)

Curiously enough, the early fathers of the

Christian church did not condemn puppets entirely, nor

place them under the ban of graven images. So thev were

at least tolerated for a time, and before the Roman Em-

pire collapsed the monks had seized them as a convenient

and easy method of explaining the story of the Bible.

(1) Hughes: "The Story of the Theatre", p. 101

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They were used in miracle end nativity plays given in

the chapels of the churches. Often puppets and human

actors appeared in the same plays. During those dreary

days after the temporal power of the emperors had crum-

bled away and before the spiritual temporal might of the

church had been seated in its stead, the children were

by imperial edict all Christians. But they could not

read, and their parents could not read to them the Bible

stories, as there were no Bibles to read. Through the

Middle Ages, all over the Christiaan world, this was the

duty of the puppets; they acted out the Bible, not in

the Latin and Greek of the scriptures and masses, but in

the language of the audience. In vain. Abbot Hugh of

Cluny in 1068 and Pope Innocent in 1210 denounced the

practice. The little figures always reappeared inside

the churches and adjacent cloisters.

Driven from the churches in the 16th century

by the pressure of rules, the moving dolls began to ap-

pear in roadside booths, at fairs, at noblemen' 3 enter-

tainments, in the guardhalls of the castles, exactly as

they had in Socrates' and Livy’s time. With this tran-

sition a comedy element crept into the mystery and mir-

acle plays, the better to hold the audience, and it grew

to dominate the whole. The characters changed their

speech and dress and chronicled the heroic deeds of an-

tiquity, fables, and satires on Home's decadence. By

1550 it is recorded that Italian marionettes were repre-

senting Columbus' discovery of the Indies. Those were

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the great days of the puppet-players. A booth stood

outside the Vatican for the entertainment of the members

of the Pope’s household. Cosmo I had a theatre set up in

the Palozza Vecchio.

The celebrated Italian physician and mathema-

tician, Giroloma Cardano, wrote enthusiastically of it in

1550, telling of the wonderful perfection with which it

imitated human movements. "An entire day", he says,

"would not be sufficient in which to describe those pup-

pets that play, fight, shout, dance, and play musical in-

struments." (1)

Tnere are different names for the Italian pup-

pets; "Pupazzi" comes from the Latin word "pupa" mean-

ing doll. "Fantoccia", also meaning doll, furnished

"fantoccini" or little dolls. From "figura" meaning

statue or figure, comes "figurini", statuettes or little

figures. "Burattini" is derived from "buratto", cloth,

being made mostly of cloth.

From Venice came the word marionette. Each

year, in the days of the Venetian Republic, there 7/as

celebrated a Feast of the Virgins, upon the anniversary

of the rescue of the twelve brides from some pirates.

Twelve girls were chosen, at a beauty contest, and made

to play the chief parts in the pageant. At the conclu-

sion of the holiday they were given their costumes, jew-

els, and a certain sum of money from the public treasur-

(l) Curtis: "Dramatic Instinct in Education" p. 183

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y. One year an economy administration reduced the num-

ber of Marys, as the brides were called, to three and

saved the cost 0f nine costumes and nine mairiage por-

tions. The next year the three girls were dispensed

with and twelve dolls were substituted. These wooden

beauty-contest winners wpre called Little Marys or mar-

ionettes.

Having seen a puppet show in Italy, Cecil

Roberts writes, ”We reflected that the drama we had seen

was a pa,j.t of this land of beauty and romance, a cher-

ished heirloom, faithfully handed down from generation

to generation of these child-like people. It was the

drama immortal. Three hundred years hence children

bright and beautiful as these would laugh and cry at

Punch and Judy; long after we had gone to the Silence;

for Punch and Judy were not human products, as we --so

mortal. We were really the show; the puppets had a-

chieved immortality.” (1)

Charles Dickens wrote: "The theatre of pup-

pets or marionettes, a famous company from Milano, is,

without exception, the drollest exhibition I ever beheld

in all my life. There is a heavy father with gray hair,

who sits down on the conventional stage bank and blesses

his daughter in the regular conventional way, which is

tremendous. Ho one would suppose it possible that any-

thing short of a real man could be so tedious. It is a

(1) Living Age: ”11 Pulcinella” Cecil Poberts,

April 15, 1922 p. 154.

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triumph of art." (2)

The wandering Italian showmen carried their

plays up into central Europe and England, where these

countries adopted the Italian methods of puppet theatric

als and gradually changed the Latin aspects of the drama

into their own.

"Vilien he crossed the channel is problematical

but he was performing miracle plays for delighted Eng-

lishmen early in the sixteenth century." (2)

Just as our regular drama was transported

from Italy into other countries, so was the Italian pup-

pet plav the basis, the forerunner of modern European

puppet plavs. The puppet movement does not aspire to

the significance of the classic drama but it has always

trailed alongside it and presented its theme wh»=n the

regular drama was not available.

Marionette shows have always been popular

with the learned as well as with the ignorant Italians.

The cities have had their "castellos"; the villages,

their wandering showmen; and the homes of nobles, their

private ehows. Lorenzo do Medici is said to have given

many puppet shows. Such well-known plavs as "Mandra-

gala" bv Machiavelli were presented in the literary and

artistic groups.

Pulcinello has for a long time been the soul

and spirit of Italian theatricals. Wherever a "Bur-

attino" showman has pitched his "castello", there "Pol-

(1) Century; "Memoirs of Marionettes" George BrooksMarch 1926, p. 5S3(2) Hughes: "The Story of the Theatre" p. 101

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licinella" at Rome and Naples oi "Pulcinell" in the

rest of Italy. He is distinguished in ell countries by

his white robe, crush hat, hooked nose, and the mole on

his cheek.

The showmen travel from place to place, giving

their plays on the regular stage of some theatre. Accor-

ding to Yorrick (P. Ferrigni) there were forty thou-

sand theatrical burattini and more than four hundred mar-

ionette shows in Italy in 1884. "They are most numerous

in the southern provinces. Those hignly populated towns

on the e hores of the two seas, at the end of the Boot,

hardly know any dramatic theatre except that of the mar-

ionettes. Fven at Faples, Salerno, Aquila, and Coserta,

mechanical theatres are sometimes able to compete with

the roving companies of burattini, who change their

place every month, going from theatre to th^atie. At

Milan and in the provinces of Lombardy there are many

marionette companies and they do an excellent business.

"It is probable that no other stage has ever so

cleailv represented what might be described as tn0 "col-

ore del tempo’; a.nd that no other theatre has ever man-

ifested, more plainly than the burattini the critical and

philosophical spirit of its contemporaries, with those lit-

tle productions, with parodies, with satires, with dancing

farces, with allusions to all current events, and all polit-

ical people. All great men, all abstract beings, all the

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personages of the day, all the heioes have had among

burattini a moment of triumph and an hour of resurrec-

tion." (l)

It is needless to chronicle how strong a hold

the marionette has on the Italian children; and this is

as it should be, for since the davs of the ancients, It-

aly has given a home to these fantoccini. Hot only are

"Cinderella",

"Puss in Boots", and "Sleeping Beauty" fa-

vorites on the children’s puppet stage but also a quaint

little play about the adventures of Befana--a little old

legendary woman who corresponds to our Santa Claus.

At the Apollo Theatre in Florence, marionette

shows were mixed in among the regular vaudeville acts es-

pecially for children. This caused the Apollo to be

known as the "Family Theatre", for heie all members of

the household might be entertained. Marionettes for

this theatre, as well as many other Italian theatres, are

made in Tripoli.

All over Italy the outdoor marionette theatre

has a prosperous business. It is the customary Punch

and Judy show, save that the dolls are masked and cos-

tumed in the manner of the actors in tne ancient Commedi-

a dell ’Arte. The average Punch and Judy show is on iron

and wooden stilts six and a half feet high, so that it

will be above the heads of the crowd.

This, with the exception of the roaming chil-

li) Yorrick: "A History of Puppets" Mask vol. 6 p.31-32

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dren's theatre, an occasional circus, oi an Airier ican

movie, is all the chili drama that the young Italians

have. Puppets are indigenous to Italian soil, and it is

natural that the favorite child story of Italy is not

one of flesh and blood, but the adventures of the doll,

Pinocchio

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The Italians have perhaps a stionger native

gift for the drama than other countries and they accept

readilv this unadorned puppet plav. Nven in America,

the newsboys on the streets learn of their beloved he-

roes through the puppet shows. Matthews sevs that among

the lowest classes the love for the burattini is univer-

sal and in such cities as Genoa no expense is spared in

their costumes or construction. Thev perform heroic, ro-

mantic, or historic plays. Nothing is attempted which

is not grandiose in movement, startling in storv, and im-

pressive in style, (l)

SICILY

The marionette theatre or "Opira di Pupi" is

the favourite amusement of the Sicilian populace, and

for the student of ethnology, it is one of the most in-

teresting institutions of this island. In Sicily we find

the puppet show at the summit of its evolution; we be-

hold the. lineal descendant of the verv earliest form of

dramatic art. Puppet shows were in high favor among the

Greeks and were introduced by them into Sicily, where

(l) Bookman; "Puppets Shows Old and New" BranderMatthews Dec. 1S14 p. 379

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they took such deep root that they are flourishing today

in spite of the picture shows and other modern entertain

ments. The Sicilians quickly became adept in this art

and travelled with their troupes to distant lands. The

showman in Xenophon’s "Symposium” was a Syracusan.

Primitive puppet shows continued in Sicily,

and in the thirteenth century, the then languishing art

was received by the French who grafted it on to a new,

entrancing form of drama, the representation bv marion-

ettes of tales of the Carolingian cycle and chivalry.

These plays are still presented night after night. An-

other theme that never grows old is Ariosto’s "Orlando

Furioso". All the principal towns of Sicily have a "Te-

atrino di pupi" where every evening men and boys rlock

to see the performance of a chapter in some drama found-

ed on the Tales of the Paladins. These serials last as

long as three months and are usually in pompous, old

world Italian, based on the language of Tasso or Aiiosto

on which they are modelled. The leading characters are

the well known figures of chivalry--Roland,Charlemagne,

etc., but the playwright gives full reign to his imagi-

nation in inventing new incidents and heroes. Other

plays are comedies, passion-plays, tragedies, and bal-

lets.

More interesting than th® libretto are the

actors themselves who are somewhat less than three feet

high and weigh about fourteen pounds. They seem much

larger because of the low proscenium opening. An old

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tradition in costuming is that the Christian knights

should wear a short full skirt under their armour, while

the Saracens are clothed in trouseis. Even with all the

romance of their story and the unexpected wav in which

their movements stimulate the imagination, these mario-

nettes would fail without tne wizardy of the voice of the

speaker, ioi the voice is the soul of the marionettes.

The art of the "Puparo" is generally heredi-

tary, at least in the two principal schools, Palermo and

Catania. In Palermo it is in the hands of the Greoo fam-

ily, an* the other small theatres which have sprung up

are usually managed by men who learned their profession

from Greco. Don Gaetano Greco (1313-1874), the founder

of this theatre, was a small landowner who experimented

with puppets for his own amusement in order to improve on

their unnatural movements. He substituted iron rods for

stiings and covered the knights with metal armour, giv-

ing them movable visors and swords. His puppets were so

life-like that legend declared them to be alive.

The castania "Teatrino" has also its tradi-

tions not less interesting than those of Palermo. Here

are some of the most marvelous maiionettes ever seen:

they measure over four feet and weigh from fifty six to

ninety pounds. The “Passion", presented during Holy Week,

and the "Hativita", at Christmas are especially good pup-

pet plays presented here. Wherever we go in Sicilv the

marionettes are of potential interest, whether they are

acting the old, yet ev°r new, story of Orlando, the loves

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of Rinaldo and Merfisa, or the grief of Charlemagne for

the deatn of his anights.

SPAIN AND PORTUGAL

"It was by puppet-snows that Giannello Torri-

ani the greatest mechanician of the sixteenth century,

succeeded in some degree, in restoring the mind of His

Ma.iestv, Charles the fifth. The inventions of Torriani

soon got into the hands of the country showmen: and

"Castelli" were speedily set up in the open spaces of

Madrid, Seville, and Valencia.” (l) Tne repertory of

Spanish and Portuguese marionettes was always essential-

ly different from that oi otner European countries, Hav-

ing rigidly retained all the marks and characteristics of

tne old relations with the church. As in Italy, puppets

can be traced back to the churches, where they presented

religious scenes until as late as the sixteenth century.

The characters and plays of the ti teres, as the Spanish

puppets were called, were more distinguished than else-

where for their preservation of the national physiognomy.

With the single exception of Pulcinella, who is cosmopol-

itan, no Italian puppet has ever succeeded in acclimatis-

ing himself in the country.

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza saw "The manner

in which Signor Gayferos accomplished the deliverance of

his spouse Melisandra". Since that time, three hundred

years ago, the puppets are about the same. In 1877 Mon-

(l) Yorrick: "Puppets in Spain" The Mask Oct. 1913p. 129

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sieur Pourceaugn a.c by Moliere was presented at a puppet-

snow in Madrid. Marionettes crossed into Portugal, and

Lisbon had its opportunity of applauding the little fig-

ures in a. tragedy called, "La Morte di Socrate". The

Portugal titeres were used so frequently as monks that

they were called "Bonif rates". In both countries the

passion for marionettes was, and still is, very marked.

GERMANY

The passion that the northern races have al-

ways had for puppets is understood when we know that

their minds were especially attracted by that which is

mysterious or marvelous.

Poppets, according to K°len Joseph, probably

were first known as housenold gods--little wooden dolls

which were set up in the chimney. To these "Kobold" or

"Tattermann " as they were called, were strings. "As far

back as the twelfth century and according to Charles Mag

nin even in the tenth century the word ’Tocha’ or ’Docha

was used to signify a kind of puppet." (l) The minne-

singers speak of the jugglers attracting their audiences

with these grotesque wooden dolls.

Yorrick writes: "In the book of expenses of

the Court of the Emperor Sigismund, there appears this

entry under the date, June 15, 1429: ’Gave twenty-four

denari to be present at a representation of Joan of Arc

at the little Ratisbon theatre. * But it is certain that

(l) Joseph: "A Book of Marionettes" p. 113

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the i epi esantation of liturgical drama by means of pup-

pets, dates from a much earlier period and we find trac-

es of it in Poland end in Russia., when, on a Sunday, pre-

ceding the festival of the birth of Christ, the mastery

of the three cnildren, who were cast into the fiery fur-

nace was represented in front of the great altar of the

Cathedral of Moscow," (1)

At the beginning of the sixteenth century,

when dramatic genius was suffering from the disapproval

of tne church, which represented the education and wealth

of the land, there was presented in the German fairs,

"The prodigious and lamentable history of Doctor Faust".

After the peace of Munster, dramatic art began to breathe

once more and the well-known Andrea Grvpli appeared as

a reformer of the German theatre. In nis castello, he

presented his propaganda through the mouths of the pup-

pets.

"The march of progress was tnen invading nor-

thern countries and Italian marionettes established the

firsta.ble theatre and the first permanent company at

Frankfort in the year 1657. A year afterwards, Leinsic,

Hamburg, and Amsterdam began to regard the marionettes of

Italy with great favor. In 1667 Pietro Resonieri erected

a theatre for puppets in Vienna, and continued in the

same plaos, honored and * festeggiato ’ for forty years in

succession. In the Leopolds tend t ,in the Hew Market, in

(l) Yorrick: "Puppets in Germany" The Mask Vol. 6

p. 298

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the Trevung, numbers of ' Pulzinella -Spieler ’ began to

give representations in the evening, after the *angelus

domini’ every dav of the week except Fiida.ys and Satur-

days. " (

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In Germany, tne puppets profited vastly bv

the disagreements between the clergy and the stage. The

theological war against theatrical performances broke

out in Hamburg in 1680 and lasted for ten years, a per-

iod during which productions by living actors were sup-

pressed. Always ready to profit by an ill wind for the

regular theatre, the puppet -managers soon took posses-

sion of tne playhouses where the people, all the mor°

eager for entertainment because of their long fast,

sppedilv followed. The actors out of a .iob’, were con-

strained to enter the service of the puppe t -showmen

,

speaking the lines to accompany the parts acted by the

dolls. The audiences were composed of the most eminent

men of the day.

At that time a kind of melodrama, a combina-

tion of prose, music, and pantomime was introduced that

took its theme from religious and mythological sources.

In these plays the dispossessed actors were sometimes

permitted to take part, but only in the roles of virtu-

ous persons and those in favor with the audience, while

the merione t tes , who had nothing to fear from the religi-

ous fervor of the spectators, played ell other parts.

When persecution grew less, the actors under the protec-%

(l) Yorrick: ’’Puppets in Germany" The Ka sk 6 P*OOQ ^

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tion of the puppets and with them, returned to the stage.

While the marionettes were acquiring good for-

tune and fame from the closing of the theatres, an Ital-

ian showman, Sebastiano du Scio, aroused the anger of

the Protestand clergy by presenting with his marionettes,

"The Life, Acts, and Descent into Hell of Dr. Johannes

Faust". The production was at once successful with the

people but the minister Spener, afraid of the disputes

between the people and the clergy, prohibited the repre-

sentation of this play. (l) It is unusual for such a

minor cause as a puppet-show to affect the stability of

the State. Today certain plays are not allowed to be

presented on the stage of England or .America for the same

reason. Even the puppet-plays weie important enough to

receive censorship. It was of no harm to the puppet dra-

ma that Dr. Faustus was banished from Berlin, for it

spread through the rest of Germany and at Frankfort met

Wolfgang Goethe.

In the seventeenth centurv marionette plays

were common; and persons in control of the stage strove

to keep themselves independent of men of learning by doing

without the written plav. Everything connected with the

play, the lines, directions, and settings had to be mem-

orized. Young boys were generally apprentices for sever-

al years before they were allowed to speak parts. Only

the owner of the puppets had a copy of the play.

At the end of the seventeenth century the mel-

odramatic plays given by living and by wooden actors(l^ Yorrick: "Puppets in Germany" The MarionetteVol. 6 p. 320

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odramatic "plays given by living and by wooden actors

were especially devoted to scenes of martyrdom, slaugh-

ter, and battles. It was the rjuppet who performed the

part of the slaughtered and martyred. The repertoire of

the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries ranged from

myth and history to any event of interest. The death of

Charles XII of Sweden in 1780 was dramatized by puppets.

The celebrated Boyle, while living in Rotter-

dam, put aside his books when he heard the announcement

of the puppet show. Lodovico Rotgans went to the "cas-

tello" for inspiration before he wrote his poems. Euler,

Germany's most famous geometrician, delighted in mario-

nette comedies. Prince "Nicholas Joseph von Esterhaz.v had

at his castle a marionette stage.

The leader of Prince Joseph's orchestra in his

marionette theatre was Joseph Havdn. For these little

actors he composed two symphonies,

"The Children's Fair"

and "The Toy Symphony". After those he wrote five operas

for the marionettes, "Filemon and Baucis" (1773), "Gen-

ievre (1777), "Didone" (1778), "The Vendetta" (no date),

and "Tne Witches Lance" (1778). Another opera, "The

Lame Devil", was written earlier for an Italian puppet

player, (l)

Goethe (1756-1836) frankly avows his indebted-

ness to the puppet -stage, from which he derived the orig-

inal idea of Faust. Yorrick says, "In the immortal pages

(l) Yorrick: "Puppets in Germany" The Mask Vol. 6

p. 303

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of lais ’Memorie ’ Wolfgang Goethe relates himself that

the greatest of his infantile joys was a little mario-

nette theatre. He managed all his little wooden 'per-

sonaggi’ himself, presented some of the most popular

plays of the time and also some of the most highly

praised dramas of classic literature. At the age of

twenty, he wrote a comedy for a small marionette theatre

called ’Festivals of the Fair of Plunderswellern ’ in the

course of which he criticized his own audiences and ex-

posed their defects. That youthful little ’bagatella'

has a particularity that is worthy of note: the con-

duct of that work and certain episodes of the plot re-

veal an analogy with the legend of ’Faust’. He also add

ed another composition on the occasion of Princess Amel-

ia’s marriage.” (l)

The Italian puppets may boast that it was

they who developed in the mind of Goethe his first dra-

matic genius and inspired Haydn for his first musical po

ems. For Goethe began his early love for the theatre

with the Italian marionettes and Havdn’s career opened

with his composition for the Italian showman, Bernardoni

It was in Munich at the close of the nine-

teenth century that the puppets enjoyed indisputable pre

dominance. Here are two theatres built and used solely

for marionettes. Herr Schmidt in 1858 began his puppet

shows, and when he wished to retire, the city persuaded

(l) Yorrick: "Puppets in Germany” tfol. 6 p. 302

The Mask

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him to continue them. The magistrates built a municipal

puppet theatre, which Papa Schmidt was to use. Here un-

til his ninety-fourth year, the old showman furnished

countless hours of happiness to the children. Over fif-

ty fairy plays were written for these puppets, of which

there v/*ie a thousand.

The most famous puppet playhouse is the "Mar-

ionette Theatre of Munich Artists" which is operated by

a group of artists, writers, and puppeteers. Paul Brann,

an author, was its instigator and director. This elabor-v

ate little theatre is equipped with all the most modern

appliances, including a revolving stage such as was used

by Reinhardt, and an intricate lighting system. Because

of the excellency of the stage settings and manipulation

of the actors, this theatre is a model of mo'dern stage

craft.

Dramas of the modern poets as well as the old

classic plays and Kasperle comedies are presented in Mun-

ich. Brann has added poetic art to the simplicity of

the marionette. Since the cultured audiences have seen

the poetic possibilities of this type of drama, they have

given their patronage. The plays are usually not con-

cerned with every day life but carry the audiences to the

land of make believe.

Tragedies of Maeterlinck, dramas by Kofmann-

stahl, comedies by Arthur Schnitzler, and medieval folk

plays ot Hans Sachs have been presented; and operettas

by Gluck, Offenbach, and Mozart have been attempted.

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Herr Brann and his associates, availing themselves of

all the decorative fantasy of new stage-craft, are wise

enough to recognize the place of their acnievements and

to .keep it in its place of the make-believe.

Anton Aicher became interested in puppets by

a jubilee booklet by Herr Schmidt in honor of the fifti-

eth anniversary of his theatre. Aicher was pleased by

the scenes and costumes of Schmidt, but disappointed in

the constructions manipulation. After several years of

experimentation he made his marionettes supple and man-

ageable. "The marionettes range from eleven to eighteen

inches in height. Tney are fairly light, the weighting

of the limbs being just enough to make them drop from

raised positions. The size of the head is exaggerated

in order to make the puppets expression more visible,

hands and feet are for delicacy diminished. Each face

that Professor Aicher carves seems to be a portrait." (l)

The widespread interest in marionettes shown

by the Germans and other pieople of central Europe indi-

cates a part of the world-wide revolt against realism.

Nowhere has the puppet been revived more enthusiastical-

ly than in Germany, Austria, and Czecho-Slovakia. The

war, instead of killing him, has made him more popular

than ever. The great puppet centers are Munich, Vienna,

Baden-Baden, Pilsen, and Prague.

Ivo Puhoney packed his wooden dolls at the be-

ll) McPharlin, Paul: ".Anton Aicher 's Marionette The-atre in Salzburg" Drama April 1929 p. 204

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ginning of the war and left them in Baden-Baden. In

1914 they were taken to Berlin, where they produced "Doc-

tor Sassafras", a puppet pley by Pocci. The "Frankfur-

ter Zeitung" described this as an artistic masterpiece

.

"Tne drama had a much purer and stronger emotional ef-

fect in this symbolic, miniature presentation with its

modest and reliable lighting effects than is possible in

the hard reality of tne larger stage. The circle of the

heavenly army shimmering in magic red reminding one of

the pious fantasies of Beato Angelico; the voices of

the archangels sounding from above; the gleam of white

light when the voice of the Lord was heard; the dark

chasm leading to the depths of the earth, out of which

the wonderful little figure of Mephistopheles appeared

and then, blinded by the radiance of Divinity, turned a-

side and covered himself with his bet f s wing: all this

provided a pure artistic satisfaction which called forth

en thu s i a s t ic a rr 1 au se ." (

1

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In Vienna, the most celebrated marionettes are

those fashioned bv Richard Teschner. Thev are the most

sophisticated of all theatrical dolls, and are the anti-

thesis of the heavy clumsy old-fashioned punnets of the

mediaeval period.

These delicate creations were suggested by

the Javanese shadows and their thin graceful limbs remind

us of the vayangs. Many of Techner’s puppets are nude.

(1) Joseph: " A Book of Marionettes" p. 134-135

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Some are fairly realistic; some are fanciful. They

have been shown only in private groups.

Czecho-Slovakia. has been more hospitable to

the puppet since the war. 7/hen strict censorship was

impose! on the newspapers luring the war, the puppet

shows, considered unimportant, were used to spread prop-

aganda and maintain the morale of the countrymen. After

the war the puppet show became for the people what the

moving picture show is for the American. "It is repor-

ted that more than fifteen thousand puppet- theatres have

been established bv the authorities in Czecho-Slovakia

since the war, and that they have been prescribed for

military units as well as for schools. Certainly as an

economical, artistic, and entertaining method of dissem-

inating national ideals and information, the puppet-show

has many distinct Qualifications. And it belongs funda.-

mentally to the expressionist movement, whetner it be a

survival of tne crude folK-type or a sophisticated mod-

ern derivation. In any form it is sufficiently artific-

ial to ne ruled out of the theatre of realism." (l)

FRANCE

Before the Gauls were conquered by the Ro-

mans, they represented their Druid gods by huge idols

which made fearful gestures to terrorize the barbarous

worshipers. Even in the fifteenth and sixteenth centu-

ries after Christianity was adopted, the French used the

(l) Hughes: "The Story of the Theatre" p. 303

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mo v in g idols in the church as the Italians had done.

Carried from Italy, a puppet epidemic spread through the

Europe of the Middle Ages. Very p arly in the hi3torv of

the church, puppets were permitted to perform sacred dra-

mas, legends of the saints, and miracles of faith. The

regular drama spread outside the churcn yard: the pun-

pet show also came to the booths in the market places.

In "Serees", a work published in 1584 bv

Guillaume Bouchet, French theatrical puppets are mention-

ed. About 1630 the character of Polichinelle appeared.

The marionettes first appeared without the benefit of the

clergy from the time of Louis XIV when Brioche set up his

booth and extracted teeth between performances. He may

have presented the dolls to attract his patients. In

1663 Brioche came to court to entertain the royal Dauphin,

son of Louis XIV. (l)

The French puppet-play has attracted great

authors who have used it to give free rein to satire and

witty epigram. How completely it has mirrored the times

is shown by the fact that puppets as well as humans were

execute daily during the French Revolution. Scarron,

La Bruyere, Lemierre, Gecon, Arnaud, Voltaire, and Ana-

tole France have favourably mentioned the marionettes.

Voltaire brought companies of marionettes to his Cha-

teau at Girev.

From 1888 to 1892 M. Henri Signoret produced

(1} Joseph: ”A Book of Marionettes'* p. 83-85

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certain classic dramas, among them, "The Birds", by

Aristophanes, "Abraham" by Hrotswitha, and "The Tempest"

by Shakespeare. His theatre originated in a desire by

some of the artistic persons to produce the classical

drama of all lands. Living actors were disregarded for

marionettes. Aided by forty friends, Signoret made a

biilliant success of his theatre. (l^

The study of marionettes in France is partic-

ularly associated with the uppei classes. It is not

the common people who devote their talents and time to

this art so much as it is men of rank and genius. Gou-

nod wrote "The Funeral March of a Marionette". Charles

Magnin, a brilliant member of the Academie Francaise,

wrote a detailed history of puppetry.

George Sand gave her first puppet performance

at nei estate in 1847. Here, in this "Theatre des Ami e"

,

she and her son, Maurice, presented shows for thirty

years. Hei puppets were carved with skill but did not

attempt to be realistic. The audience was composed of

celebrated persons who were interested in good litera-

ture and art. Vvlien Maurice Sand died in 1889, this the-

atre disappeared, but its work had been of sufficient

importance to furnish material for a book about it,

which was published in 1890. (2)

Anatole France says, "I love the marionettes

(1) Joseph: "A Book of Marionettes" p. 102

(2) Joseph: "A Book of Marionettes" p. 92-94

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and those of M. Signoret please me particularly. These

marionettes resemble the Egyptian hieroglyphics, that is

to sav, something mysterious and pure and when they rep-

resent a drama of Shakespeare or Aristophanes, I think

I see the thoughts of the poet being unrolled in sacred

characters upon the walls of the temple--In the meantime

I have seen the marionettes of the Hue Vivienne twice

and I have enjoyed them very much. I am infinitely

thankful to them for having replaced living actors. They

are divine, these scrolls of M. Signoret, and worthy of

giving form to the dreams of the poet whose mind Plato

says, was ’the sanctuary of the Graces'." (l)

Today in Paris in the garden of the Tulieries

and the Luxembourg and in the Champs-Elysees,where the

children congregate, are roped off spaces provided with

chairs, where nurses and children enjoy the antics of

Guignol, who is none other than Mr. Punch, masquerading

under one of his many aliases. In America and England

the "Punch and Judy" show of today has a monotony of pro-

gram which mav account for its waning popularity. This

is not the case on the continent. The traditional guig-

nol plavs, of which there are a number, have been handed

down from generation to generation and some of them have

been printed.

The puppets of the guignol theatres are quite

simple. Most of them are worked by tne fingers under-

(l) Joseph: "A Book of Marionettes" p. 103-105

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neata the slothes so that you always see the toiso aril

seldom th° legs of the characters. In Paris, the fam-

ous guignol theatre is the one of Anatole. Here the

children watch with an interest that one almost never

sees at the theatre. They and the puppet-master accom-

plish the real miracle of the theater, the one every di-

rector tries to accomplish: the audience tales part in

the play.

The marionette Grock does some superbly comi-

cal things. But those funny things are not his best and

nis best are perhaps a little too refined for outright

laughter. "When he sits down on the piano stool, five

feet from the keyboard, and stretches to reach the keys,

and finally tries to push the piano over to the stool,

you have the sound commonplaces of the clown 1 s work.

The puppeteer is extraordinarily clever. A

puppet gendarme can throw his baton in the air and catch

it in his arms on the second twist or he may catch four

sticks thrown to him by another character. The pujjpe-

teers' best effects come from the very poverty of their

materials.

Looking at these Prencn guignols one is aware

of characters and plots which are centuries old, and of

methods which cannot age. The stories are even simpler

than fairy tales. Even in their bare bone of skeleton

plots are suggested one of the basic methods of the pup-

peteers; the method of repetition. To misunderstand

this is to fail in searching out the secret of some of

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our simplest and best comic artists. Everything in the

gu.igi.ols is done over and ovei again.

The pa.r tic ipation oi tne audience is, o.f

course, the triumph of the puppet-show. It is an ex-

pected triumph, essential to the play, for the puppeteer

addresses himself directly to the audience and in a sense

depends upon its collaboration. It is because th» break-

ing in of the children at the guignols is not an inter-

ruption, but a continuation, of the plav that the comic

tneatre becomes actually a ritual, a sort of lav mass:

whereas the serious theatre which withdraws from the au-

dience to itself, seems often the ritual of the dead re-

ligion of the drama.

ENGLAND

. In a study of the history of tne drama, mir-

acle pl*ys and moralities occupy an important place.

Other forms of entertainment have been associated with

them. The puppet play is one of these, E.X. Cnambers

says: ”It has been pointed out, in speaking of the li-

turgical drama, that the use of puppets to provide a

figured representation of the mvsterv of the Nativity

seems to have preceded the use for the same purpose of

living and speaking persons, and further, that the pup-

pet-show, in the form of the Christmas crib, has out-

lived tne drama founded upon it, and is still in use in

all Catholic countries. ^n analogous custom is the lay-

ing of the crucifix in the sepulchre during the Easter

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ceremonies, and there is one English example of a crnn-

plete performance of a Resurrection play bv ’certain

smaller puppets, representing, the persons of Christe,

the watchmen, Marie, and others.’ This is described by

a seventeenth centurv writer as taking place at -/itnev

in Oxfordshire in the dayes of ceremonial religion and

one of the watchmen, which made a clacking: noise, was

commonly called JacK Snacker of Wytne v. ’ Tnis points to

the use of some simple mechanical device ov which motion

was imparted to some, at least, of the puppets. A simi-

lar contrivance was produced by Bishop Barlow to paint

a sermon against idolatry at Paul’s Cross in 1547 and

was given afterwards to the bovs to break into pieces.

Gairdner Quoting an unnamed chronicler says, ’a picture

of the Resurrection of Our Lord made with pieces, which

put out his legs of sepulchre, and blessed with his hand

and turned his head.’" (l)

The introduction of the Renaissance to Eng-

land, about 1542, brought new ideas, new men, and new

dramatic forms. The first regular theatres were estab-

lished. Marionette performances varied their plays from

tne religious to humorous.

It was the Italian who first carried puppet-

shows into England. There is an ancient document from

the Privy Council to the Lord Mavor of London in 1575

that authorizes, "Italian marionettes to settle in the

(l) Chambers, E.K.,

"The Mediaeval Stage" Vol.IIp. 157 -158

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city and to carry on their strange motions as in the

past and from time immemorial”, (l) Before this, th<=

puppets had been used in the church in religious servi-

ces. From now on they are an important part of the min-

sti#l’s repertoire and the entertainment at fairs.

"William Shakespeare and some of nis prede-

cessors, wrote especially for marionettes both dramas

and comedies, which developed and perfected later on,

passed into the accented repertory of the greater the-

atres. The comedy ’Every Man out of his Humor’ was or-

iginally composed by Ben Jonson for a small marionette

theatre and evidence is not wanting to show that the

first representation of ’Julius Caesar’ took place in a.

puppet show near the Tower of London. Robert Greene

wrote for them his two celebrated mysteries, ’Man’s Wit’

and ’The Dialogue of Dives’," (2)

These plays were not only growing in popular-

ity but they became so well established that we can find

reference to them in most of the writers. Ben Jonson in

"Bartholomew Fair" has a puppet -showman,Lanthorn Leath-

erhead, give in his booth a story of Hero and Leander,

Damon and Pythias. "0, the motions that I, Lanthorn

Leatherhead, have given light to in my time, since mv

master Pod died! Jerusalem was a stately thing, and so

was Nineveh, and the city of Norwich and London and Go-

(1) Yorrick: "Puppets of England" The Mask 1913 p.205(2) Yorrick: "Puppets of Eneland" The Mask Vol.VIp. 207

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mo rrah, with the rising of the prentices and pulling

down the bawdy-houses there upon S'nrove-Tuesda.v; but the

Gunpowder Plot, that was a get -penny! I have presented

tnat to an eignteen or twenty pence audience nine times

in an afternoon."

In one of nis comedies, Jonson enumerates the

pastimes of the ladies of the gentry; one of these was

going to a marionette show eveiy day. "Drolleries" by

Dekker was written for them. Jasper Mavne in "The City

March" recalled the mania of the London women for attend-

ing puppet-plays. Samuel Pepys writes, "To Bartholomew

Pair to walk up and down, and there, among other things

found my Lady Castlemaine, at a puppet-play and the

street full of people waiting for her to come out."

Yorrick lists some of the puppet-shows which

were popular at that time;

"Man’s Wit"

"The Dialogue of Dives"

"The Prodigal Son"

"The Resurrection of our Saviour," a

sacred drama, presented at Whitney in

the county of Oxford by the clergy of

the parish.

"Babylon"

"Jonah and the Whale"

"Sodom and Gomorrah"

"The Destruction of Jerusalem"

"The City of ITineveh"

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"Rome and London' 1

"The Destruction of Norwich"

"The Massacre of Paris with the

Death of the DuKe of Guise"

"Gunpowder Plot"

At least fifteen of Shakespeare’s plays men-

tion p i,r,pets. Autolvcus in "Tne Winter’s Tal°" in his

various wavs of making a living "compassed a motion of

the Prodigal Son*. "Hamlet" contains tne lines, "I

could interpret between you and vour love, if I could

see the puppets dallying." In The Taming of the Shrew

one of the e.hief characters wants to marry a rich heir-

ess. Grumio suggests that he should marry an aglet-

baby, an old trot without a tooth in her head, or even

a puppet. Prospero in The Tempest invokes the evil spir-

its. They are called mystic creatures, ambiguous beings,

demi-puppets . The most frecment references to puppets

are found in Antony and Cleopatra (Act 5, Scene 2), Mi

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s Dream (Act 3, Scene 2), Pomeo and Juliet

(Act 3, Scene 5l, King Lear (Act 3, Scene 2), and Twelfth

Fight (Act 4, Scene 2).

Biblical plays, legends from national ballads,

and Punch and Judy shows had their share on the program

of these light theatres which were carried from parish to

parish.

The closing of the theatres in 1642 was a hard

blow for them, but not for the marionettes. Since they

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weie excluded from this edict, it remained for them to

carry the weight of all the drama. From Italy and France

came puppet showmen; the dramatists devoted their inter-

ests to puppet shows: the actors themselves found here

a place for their talents. The little puppets trudge

patiently along, then when disaster comes they step in

and carry on the drama, until the regular actors can a-

gain take part. Always they have been this understudy

who is important but does not receive publicity and fame.

The author does not intend to infer that they are as val-

uable as the living actor, but he does insist that they

have ever been a potent factor in developing the drama.

Punchinello, later called Punch, from the time

of his arrival from Italy during the reign of the Stuarts,

until the revolution of 1683 played inconspicuous parts

in semi-profane or semi-religious entertainments. Fow

the merry Punch changed into a wicked and heretical per-

son. The unbelievable adventures of Mr. Punch and his

wife were portrayed in a sort of epic puppet play. It

became typical of England to have the story of Punch and

Judy given at all fairs and street gatherings. These un-

written folk plays, for they were of the people, were as

important to the drama as were the ballads to poetry.

The serio-comic drama of "Punch and Judy" was

attributed to an Italian dramatist, Silvio Florillo. The

earliest notice of Punch in England is in 1666 in the o-

verseers' books of St. Martin’s in the Fields: "Rec. cf

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Punchinello ,ye Italian popet player, for his booth at

Charing Cross." (1) A Bartholomew Fair pla.y bill for

1761 i" as follows: -*At Crawley’s Booth, over against

the Crown Tavern in Smithfield, luring the time of Bar-

tholomew Fair, will be presented a little opera, called

the 11 Old Creation of the TCorld", yet newly received:

with the addition of Noah's Flood"; also several foun-f

tains playing water during the time of the play. The

last scene does present IToah and his family coming out

of the ark, with all the beasts two by two, and all the

fowls of the air seen in a prospect sitting upon trees:

likewise over the ark is seen the sun rising in a most

glorious manner. Moreover, a multitude of angels will

be seen in a double rank, which presents a double pros-

pect, one for the sun, the other for a palace, where will

be seen six angels ringing of bells. Likewise machines

descending from above, double, with Dives rising out of

hell, and Lazarus seen in Abraham's bosom, besides sever-

al figures dancing .iiggs to the admiration of the specta-

tors: with the merry conceits of Squire Punch and Sir

Jonn Spendall." (2) This play was received so enthusias-

tically that it was necessary to repeat it for fifty-two

consecutive nights.

In his notes on Punch and Judy, Professor

J. R. Taylor of Boston Univeisity writes, "This populari-

ty seems to have reached its height in the time of Queen

(1) Frost: The Old Showman and the Old London Fairsp. 28-30(2) Same book, p. 84

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Anne. The present form of the Punch and Judv show in

England is ver.v much shortened from the earlier perfor-

mances. In earlier days frecment allusions were made in

the performance to public events of the time. The form

of the play as presented in different parts of England

varies greatly,” (1)

’’Under the reign of Punchinello, that is to

sav from the year 1688 down to our time, English mario-

nettes lived through a period of such striking glory that

never again can anything of the kind be looked for, The

most renowned poets wrote dramas and comedies for the n°w

puppet shows, while the oldest critics devoted their

chief pages to puppet literature and to mechanical the-

atres.” (2) When we think of the enormous field of Eng-

lish literature and the relatively small part that pup-

pet-plays occupy, it seems that Yorrick has become over-

enthusiastic about his subject.

Until this time the marionettes had been very

simple, but now attention was directed to their construc-

tion. They were made from wood, ingeniously carved, and

made to perform the most complicated movements. Although

they were improved thev never reached the degree of ar-

tistic perfection that those of the Orient attained.

The puppet-shows of the Pairs were not con-

fined to the audiences that gathered here. Famous per-

il) Taylor, J. R. : Class Uotes at Boston Universityon MarionettesX2) Yorrick: "Puppets of England The Mask, Vol.VI p.210

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sons f looked to Mr. Powell’s shows instead of attending

the regular drama in Drury Lane or the newly introduced

opera. We wonder at the naivete of the cultured audience

who were so easily amused by these simple plays, begin-

ning with the Garden of Eden and continuing the Biblical

story which was enlivened by the dancing of Punch and .Ju-

dy. "It was such diversions as these that amused the

quality of .Anne and George the First, and emptied the

patent theatres; puppet-plays founded upon such themes

as Dick Whittington, Dr. Faustus, Mother Goose, "togeth-

er with the pleasant and comical humours of Valentine,

Nicolini, and the tuneful warbling pig of the Italian

race," as one of Mr. Powell’s handbills recites. Penketh-

man and Mrs. Saraband, Crawley and Flockman were all man-

agers who kept aliffht the sacred fire of the puppet-show

until near the end of the century and the marionettes of

our own time are thus only a revival." (l)

This Mr. Powell became a serious menace to the

churches. His show, installed opposite the Cathedral of

St. Paul, was more alluring than the church and it was to

his show the people went instead of the religions ser-

vices. His performance began at the same hour as the

church service so he used the ringing of the church bell

as a summons to his entertainment. The sexton’s letter

of remonstrance is preserved bv the "Spectator" (no.XVl);

"Sir,--I have been for twenty years undersexton of this

(l) Boulton: "The Amusements of Old London" Vol.2,p.225

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parish of St. Paul’s convent Garden, and have not miss-

ed tolling them to prayers six times in all those years:

which office I have performed to my great satisfaction,

until this fortnight past, during which time I find my

congregation taking the warning of my hell, morning and

evening, to go to a puppet-show set forth by one Powell.

I desire you would lav this before the world, that I may

not be made such a tool for the picture, and that Pun-

chinello mav choose hours less canonical. As things are

now, Mr. Powell has a full congregation, while we have a

very thin house,”

In number 277 of Addison’s .-journal is shown

anothei use of the puppet play. Every month at Powell’s

theatre a female marionette displayed the latest fash-

ions from Paris. Such an attraction naturally caused

the women to flock to this show. Fielding presented one

of his plays with a complete cast of puppets at the

Havmarket. Charlotte Clark, Collev Cibber, and the old

buffoon Russell erected mechanical theatres and presen-

ted pun^e t-plavs at Tennis Court, in Brewer Street, and

at Southwark Fair,

Yorrick savs that Milton drew the theme for

his immortal poem from the puppet play ’’Paradise Lost”,

and that the plav "The Libertine Destroyed” provided

Bvron with the idea of "Don Juan”, (l) If thes® nlavs

were the inspiration for other writings, that is well;

(l) Yorrick:p. 210

The Puppets of England The Mask V. 16

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but their chief value was in carrying on the work of

the drama.

Regular drama has ever been a means of pre-

senting the current social problems, of arousing: public

sentiment, and of attacking well known figures. In the

nineteenth century marionettes did their snare of this

through caricatures of such men as Fox and Lord Nelson.

Yorrick relates a tirade against an agitator, Ricnard

Liglrie or Tim as he is called. "’Thou thinkest thy-

self, Tim, to be the scourge and scarecrow of the Tor-

ies. Thou art, on the contrary, their delight and

their cuckoo--Thou has a passion, and I know it; oh,

Tim, thou goest too often to the puppets. Thou art well

aware of the uneasiness of the spectators when Punchi-

nello remains long absent from the scene; and also with

the delight and merriment tnat are manifested when he

shows the point of his nose on the front--Let Punch but

make his gallinaceous voice heard--oh, what joy, what

impatience for his appearance. Every minute seems to be

a century.

"And then Punchinello comes in and seats him-

self on the knees of the Queen of Sheba. The Duke of

Loraine makes a fine show of drawing his sword from its

scabbard. Punch laughs, shouts, gets away, gesticulates

and pours out upon everyone a deluge of insolences--They

trample upon him, but he remains stolid and becomes more

unconcerned and more impertinent than ever--There is not

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a single puppet of honest wool, who would not rejoice

to see *aim hanged, provided that he might be the hangman--

’'And there are times, Tim, philosophers,

preaching that the world is a great castle of puppets,

where the greatest unbreeched ruffians often assume and

play the part of Punchinello. Here in Dublin, in this

marionette theatre, wnich they call a city, thou dear

Tim, art Punchinello. Thou sowest dissension and dis-

cord everywhere, and thou seekest to drive thy sister

marionettes out of doors--Thou art the pest of the party,

dear Tim and all despise thee, dear, and hate thee, --but

to thee nothing matters, it helps to amuse the specta-

tors and make them laugh.” (l)

The puppet renascence that has begun in Mu-

nich, Florence, Brussels, and Rome has also found a place

in England. There is nothing striking in this revival of

marionettes in the Great Britain; the marionettes are

Quietly doing their tasks of entertaining the cultured,

the populace, and the children. It mav seem strange that

such an imaginative pastime, one so delicate and tender,

should find support in the northern races which are known

for their sobriety and calmness. Yet the marionettes

here h<»ve a history from ancient times to the present,

which has been as vital a part of the drama as has that

of Florence, Milan, and Rome. If we are to believe in

the survival of the fittest, then we must have faith in

(1) Yorrick; ’’Puppets of England" The Mask Vol.VIp.214-215

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tne marionettes.

The most interesting exponent of the mario-

nette in England is Gordon Craig. In 1907 he banished

the actor f i om his theory. He is extremely radical, but

this seems to be the only attitude to take if the actors

are to realize that at present they are failing. Craig

says that those who do not believe with him are only

those who worship the personalities of the stage. Their

favourites would not be lost for people who have talent

will express it and be famous in any calling.

In his famous essay, "The Actor and The Uber-

Marionette", he writes-- ” 'The artist’, says Flaubert,

'should be in his work like God in Creation, invisible

and alx-powerful; he should be felt everywhere and seen

nowhere. Art should be raised above personal affection

and nervous susceptibility. It is time to give it the

perfection of the physical sciences by means of a piti-

less method .

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’’Charles Lamb savs, ’To see Lear acted, --to

see an old man tottering about with a stick, turned out

of doors by his daughters on a rainy night, has nothing

in it but what is painful and disgusting. The contemp-

tible machinery by which they mimic the storm which he

goes out in, is not more adequate to represent the honor

of the j eal elements than any actor can be to represent

Lear. They might more easily propose to impersonate the

Satan of Milton upon a stage, or one of Michael Angelo's

terrible f igures--Lear is essentially impossible to be

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represented on the stage. *

"These writers express the same idea: That

it is bad art, or no art, to make so personal, so emo-

tional an appeal that the beholder forgets the thing it-

self while swamped by the personality, the ^motion of

its maker.

"Eleanor Duse has said, ’To save the theatre,

the theatre must be destroyed, the aotors and actresses

must all die of the plague. Thev poison the air, they

make art impossible.

’

"Napoleon is reported to have said, ’In life

there is much that is unworthy which in art should be o-

raitted; much of doubt and vacillation; and all should

disappear in the representation of the hero. 7e should

see him as a statue in which the weakness and tremors of

the flesh are no longer perceptible.’" (l)

Craig would escape from this debased realism

by the uber-marionette—a puppet more graceful than we

can conceive of, through which the mind of the artist

may be expressed. To him, the body of man is useless

material for art and as long as the theatre uses man,

that long will its development be hindered. The actor

is too human, too emotional, too variable to be used in

art, for art is not accident. Man cannot be depended up

on and so the director should devote his energies to

someone who is entirely obedient. Mr. Craig has made a

violent assertion when he says that acting is not art,

(l) Craig: "The Actor and the Uber-Marionette"The Mask Vol.I March 1908 p. 9-10

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but it is not this tneory which interests us; we would

know more about his efforts to break away from realism

by means of the puppet.

Craig’s chief aim is the awakening of the im-

agination. For this a puppet is better than the human

actor because it is not governed by emotion and chance

The theatre is the only art whose effects are the re-

sult of random inspiration. With the puppet on the stags,

this variation of mood and personality of the actor would

disappear. The marionette is the true art material for

he alone can serve the artist-director faithfully. He

has no temperament, is tireless and unchanging.

The chief significance of Craig lies in his

stimulation of our thoughts. If the marionette never

reaches the importance of the actor, it has at least been

a valuable lesson to the actor. From the marionette, the

actor can derive valuable lessons--he learns he must be-

come less a man and more of a marionette. Craig has been

forced to exaggerate-, for tha.t is the onlv wav to dis-

turb the apathy of the theatre. Hp has made us realize

the dominance of the theatre by human oersonali tv--a dom-

inance that to him is vulgar, vain, inartistic.

There is an acute dissatisfaction with realism

in drama and the marionette is the one avenue of escape.

On the stage, realism is an impossibility. The scenes

are of canvas and paint to suggest actual life, and in

front of these walk real figures which are merely a sug-

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gestion of actual "beings. This mixture of actuality

and imitation creates confusion of the real and unreal.

It is to avoid this contradictory aspect of the theatre,

this confusion of actuality and unreality, that Craig

suggests the marionette.

He writes about the marionette: "He will

wait an'ywhere for any length of time--hidden in a box--

in a cellar--or even in a century. But he will wait--

and when he is brought forward and is made to feel at

home he will still wait: then he waits upon you and all

of us like a true servant.

"There is only one actor--nav, one man--who

has the soul of the dramatic poet and who has ever serv-

ed as true and loyal interpreter of the poet. This is

the marione t te--and what other virtues can I name be-

sides these two of silence and obedience. I think they

are enough.

"For his chief virtue springs out of these.

Because of these he has been able to avoid that appal-

ling crime of exhausting the stock-born of wood, of ivo-

ry, of metal or what you will, he is content to obey

his nature--then Nature. He does not pretend to be

flesh and blood. Others can be as great as he true, he

always leaves much to be desired--a great being there -

f ore--greater than Wagner and the other celebrated men

who leave nothing we long to have any longer." (l)

(l^ Craig, Gordon: The Tneatre Advancing p. 281.

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IV

UNITED STATES

A new nation has no traditions. Oui few

centuries of existence have not been devoted to carry-

ing on old customs, but in choosing those of other lands

which we wish to adopt. The puppet is not native. 7/e

have no background of our own. Marionette art in .Ameri-

ca is a transplantation. We have imported him from Eng-

land and the continent. But why? Is he necessary in

our drama? Would it have been the same without him? He

has not had the chance to mean to us what he does to

those countries who have known him since the beginning

of their drama. In the past in America, the marionette

has been inactive--he has been waiting. 7/e are begin-

ning to realize what it had done for other countries and

what it can do for us.

There is no attempt at an absolutely realis-

tic portrayal of human beings by these puppets; each

life-like detail added is another absurdity. Eor the

marionette can accomplish much that the living actor can-

not. The dolls can perform easily what is difficult to

man, and with difficulty they do what men find most nat-

ural. With entire ease the Diinnet may lean three times

its own height in the eir. Just because it is a doll,

the marionette can become 3 superman.

The needs of the new schools--expressionismJ

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the grotesque, modernism, --brought with them new end

sometimes fantastic conceptions. One ilea was to make

the author as nearly anonymous as possible. To mak® th®

presentation independent of the personal eauation, there

has been suggestion of abolishing living actors. This

thought has been of more influence on drama, but the mar-

ionette has been of more value in presenting fantastic

plays, especially for children.

Marionettes in the United States : --people

think of the illustrator and cartoonist, Tony Sarg, for

he is known everywhere for them. He is much more conser-

vative than Gordon Craig, for he realizes that the mario-

nette field is limited. It is for plays that actors can-

not do, that he wants th®s® little imitations of men.

In "The Rose and the Ring" the butler changes into a

doorknob. Such plays as this, those dealing with fairies

and grotesques are admirably done by marionettes. The

oons°qi;pnce of his hobby is the Sarg marionette theatre,

which ha.s perpetuated an old and delightful art for the

rising generation of Americans.

Boswell says, "In the last few years th®r® has

b®en a renewal of this art in China and in Java. Sarg

wants to adopt this art of the drawing-room to the large

theatre. The dolls can be manipulated to appear any size

by working them near or far from the screen. Th®re is a

great revival of marionette entertainments all over th®

world.

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"There ere at present five schools of mario-

nettes in this country. They are ell run by intelligent

people. One of them, that is, the schools of mario-

nettes, is at Columbia University. Several of the pro-

ducers of revues have put marionette numbers in their

programs because there is a public demand. The inter-

esting part is that a stronger interest in the revival

of marionettes is being shown in America than anywhere

in Europe.” (l)

Sarg especially likes plays which make people

believe in fairies and those that are not found on th°

spoken stage. He thinks it fun to have children see

fairies fluttering about in beautiful, gleaming gauze

robes, admonishing peasant-folk about things which will

bring them happiness and good fortune. Fairy tales are

difficult to do but worth the work. 7/hen Sarg first be-

gan, he had one cast of puppeteers and another cast of

actors. "Mow the same cast pulls the strings and speaks

tne lines. These men and women stand on the platform at

the top of the back-drop oi on the floor backstage and

must be able to manipulate more than twenty strings with

no false motions, untangle them readily if there is a

mishap, and bridge gaps between lost cues. For the plays

Sarg gives in public, a stage proportional to fit two-

foot marionettes is used.

He used to hope a permanent marionette the-

(l) Boswell, Young: People You Should Know, p. 34

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atre could be established for children. This was impos-

sible as the children could go onlv on- Saturdays. In

many cities, however, marionettes are officially used in

the schools. The stages are simply made. The front,

built of plaster-boaid, is tall enough for the children

to stand behind, and the theatre itself is of two boxes,

one for each scene in a two-act play, clamped to the

plaster-board with spring clothes-pins. The puppets are

often made of cardboard and kept between the leaves of a

magazine when not in use. In fitting the stage and mak-

ing the marionettes the children get practice in the art

of designing and, in giving plays, in reading.

Mr. Sarg presented Ali Baba and the Forty

Thieves because its folks were a finely dressed lot and

there were elephants, camels, dogs, sheep, singing palm-

trees, a,n Oriental dancer and a .-juggler. Then there

were the thieves, who were different in their character-

istics. He wanted to show this characterization with

marionettes. The Oriental dancer was the most compli-

cated figure that has been us^d on the marionette stage.

When Sarg began to develop the marionette

seriously, one of the first things he did was to invent

a controller, because he had so manv strings on a sin-

gle puppet that it was impossible for one man to control

them with his fingers alone. The controller made it pos

sible for his dolls to smile, to laugh, to move their

eyes and their mouths, to play musical instruments and

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even to smoke pipes.

In an astonishing number of schools, Sarg

says, foreign languages are being taught by allowing the

pupils to present French, Spanish, and German marionette

plays. He has spent much time in making a theatre of

sucn proportions that it can be easily operated by chil-

dren. Th° marionettes are especially made in Italy.

Sarg believes that marionettes teach children to be self

controlled and patient, besides encouraging original ide

as. (l)

Mr. Ralph Block, critic of the Few York Tri-

bune, found Mr. Serg f s show quite upsetting, for it

’makes you wonder at what it does to the honorable art

of acting*, he wrote. He saw the ’oldest plaything in

the world’, the acting doll, doing all the things that

living people spend their best energies trying to do on

the stage, and doing it so much better, so much more

richly and effectively, and with such simple economy of

expression as to throw down the last hedge of privilege

that has fenced the human actor’s sacred person.

'•Indeed, the best part of the whole thing,

that which pushes the bright spirit straight through the

curtains and wins the audience from the first, is the

spontaneous quality of it, the freshness, the sincerity,

the uncommercialism--it is that which brings out the

sweet tinkle of children’s voices and children’s laugh-

ter all over the audience, that calls forth the chuckle

(l) Ladies’ Home Journal How to make and operate amarionette theatre . Tony Sarg Dec. 1927, pp. 16-17

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of tne old pt some memory of other days and other plays,

that links players and puppets and people in one harmo-

nious ’"'hole.' 1

(1)

Sarg’s puppet shows are much more complica-

ted than the usual performances. He clearly shows the

actor that if he does not improve, there is another ac-

tor waiting to take his place. Simplicity has taken pos-

session of the playwright and the scenery, but not the

actor. For a long time actois have had the theory that

it was their duty to do a great deal of acting. The mar-

ionette, valuable for satiric and imaginative plays, is

also a service because it does not amplify any portrait.

Tt only gives you the suggestion. The Rose and the Ring

is more impressive with its characters that are sugges-

tive than it would be if it had real actors.

There is an Italian in Hew York, .Remo Bnfano,

who is eager to transplant the spirit of the marionette

to this country. He has the hope of making the theatre

of the Richmond Hill Settlement House the centra of Ital-I

ian drama in the United States. It will do more than a-

muse the children and give them a play outlet: it will

oe tne home of the Commedia dell ' Arte . The Italian

need no longer lead his traditions and folk spirit on the

contin°r t

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"V/e saek to transplant the spirit of the Ital-

ian stage. It will do people good to see something less

sophisticated than the movies," says Master Bufano.

(1) Literary Digest: Dolls Yn poking at the Ac tors *

Door, May 17, 1S19, pp. 30-31.

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"Commedia del 1 1 Ar te at root means play, plav by actors

and antiphonal play by the audience, and if Richmond

Hill makes people so to the plav-house to see plays our

drama will be less artificial and fuller of glamor and

poetry,

'•The wires and sticks, arms--even the faces

of the marionette movers are all plain to the audience.

That’s part of the show--no deception here. The pnds

are left raw so that the audience can use its imagina-

tion to weave a dream. This art is too simple not to be

deep: and here is the true, the only school for dram-

atists. Else how explain the everlasting charm of th®

puppet-show?" (l)

The Hew York Tubexculosis Association felt

that the films they had on hand on the sub.iect were too

muca like propaganda. The marionette was called upon

to deliver their message in his pleasing way. Bufano

produced a marionette show, "The Hungry Dragon", which

had the customary moral of good health. This was photo-

graphed and shown in the schools. It would have been

too expensive to carry the sho// itself around from

school to school. This method of presenting a storv

proved more successful than any the association had

tried. Such educative purposes open a delightful and

interesting field for the marionettes.

The American, movie-wise and wearv, gets

something from these shows that savors of an older civ-

il) "JThipple, Lawrence: "Italy sends us marionettes"The survey, Apr. 1 ’27, pp. 43-44

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ilization. They need this folk-born Commedia dell *

Arte spirit, but unless the Italians give it to them

they will have to remain satisfied with the movies.

From coast to coast the revival of marionettes

has been going on. California, theatrically inclined,

does not boast of a Tony Sarg or a Remo Bufano, but it

does have eatable exponents of marionettes. George Kegg,

an art'st of San Francisco, designs the scenes and carv-

es the dolls: Mrs. Mable Kegg dresses these figures,

and Mrs. Fanny Engle dramatizes the story, directs the

production, and trains the puppet-master s . These Kegg-

Goldsmith marionettes began in 1920 and have been in de-

mand since that time, Thev present Cinderella , The

Nightingale . and other fairy stories. A professor of

German in Stanford University said that these nuppets

were better than those that he had seen abroad. Kegg

has used his skill to give personality to each one of

his characters. (l)

Other puppet activities in San Francisco cen-

ter about the puppet theatre which the artist, Blanding

Sloan, has set up. The Emperor Jones , Hamlet , and Mac-

beth nave been presented here. Another company per-

forming on the coast and in San Francisco, is that of

Perry Dillev, which has been in operation since 1922.

Another use for puppet-shows has been found

by the Children’s Bureau of Philadelphia. They realize

tne direct appeal of these snows, and, during the first

(1) H. Sibley: "Marionettes, the Ever Popular Pup-pet-show", Sunset Nov, 1928 pp. 28-29

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week of the Welfare Federation’s drive for funds, shows

were presented twice a dav in the window of a depart-

ment-store. The puppets were designed, carved, and

dressed to represent the members of needy families be-

fore and after receiving the Bureau’s service, and those

who individually helped in these services--doc tor,nurse

and visitor. The stories o 1 the two shows, told in

verse, were shown in a frame below the puppet -stage and

each performance was seen by as many people who could

crowd themselves in front of the store-window. This ap-

plication of one of the oldest forms of entertainment to

social work seemed to make a wider appeal than any win-

dow-display hitherto made in connection with the Federa-

tion’s campaigns.

Teachers and leaders are beginning to real-

ize how very effectively stories may be told to children

by marionettes. The Children’s Department of the Forbes

Library in Northampton, Massachusetts used marionette

plays at the story -hour period and when they were given

the room would not accommodate all of the children, (l)

The author saw an overcrowded room of eager children lis

ten to Jean Mardin’s presentation of Master Skylark at

the Boston Public Library. This educative purpose of

marionettes is so interesting that the children assimi-

late the ’lesson’ without realizing it.

’’Today school commissions in this new republic

(1) Bovnton, M. L. : Marionettes for tne S tory -hourTne Library Journal, pp. 429-430

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have discovered the pedagogical possibilities of pup-

pet-shows and are trying to substitute puppet-shows for

moving pictures. Puppet-shows are rapidly making their

way in the American educational world. Professor Condos

marionettes are being utilized by the state board of

health in Kentucky for health propaganda. The Sage Foun

dation is using a Punch and Judy show in its prophylac-

tic work abroad. Our American theaties are beginning to

devote seiious attention to marionettes. .As far as we

know the first professional performance in .America was

by Ellen Van Volkenburg, a native of Michigan.” (l)

The schools offer the most fertile field for

marionette work, and in return for the general benefits

of appreciation and understanding, he will repay with

the immediate and priceless gift of self -expression--a

quality lacking in the production of the educational

system as it now is. Public and private schools have

taken up marionette art as a regular feature of their

curricula. 4rt, kindergarten, public, and private

schools' all find different values in them. In every

scnool of the theatre theie should be a course in the

work of marionettes, for proficiency in this technique

is instrumental in dispelling self-consciousness which

is so commonly found in the beginners on the legitimate

stage. The ability to lose one's self in the personali-

tv of a marionette forms a splendid ground work for «'*-

( 1 ^ Taylor, J. R. : Class Votes at Boston Universityon Marionettes.

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tual stage parts later. In Shakespeare’s dav, and even

in some Oriental countries, actors were not accepted on

the high-class professional stage until they had master-

ed the art of puppet acting.

The art of the marionette achieves results,

but like env other art that is valuable, it is not an

easy one. Manipulation of the puppets is in itself a

highly specialized art and reauires six months of inten-

sive practice for even plausible results. It takes years

to achieve the ability to put on such a performance as

we see in our best marionette shows. The puppeteers, as

a rule, aie drawn from the ranks of stage players, who

must be equipped with a generous measure of versatility

as well as supple bodies and nimble fingers. Voices can

be toned down to the peculiar limitations of this art

only after many long rehearsals and much private prac-

tice. Amateur performances, like those of the regular

drama, are much simpler and can be done effectively, but

they lack the polish and f inesse of the regule.r puppet

shows.

Every country and century has its particular

method of operating these shows. In the United States

th« puopets are suspended from devices call°d controllers,

by strong black fish-line strings. The main controller

is a short bar, and sometimes a sort of wooden cross

which supports waist , head, and arms. The feet of the

puppet are weighted so that they will come down readily

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and cause brisk potion '/men standing the feet, as in

anger or the motion of running. One of the most diffi-

cult motions to imitate is that of walking. The most

subtle movements are required to animate the marionettes

in a life-like manner; the merest fraction of an inch

pull on a string may mar an otherwise perfect perfor-

manc e

.

It is true that the puppets nave personali ty--

that is, they reflect the individuality of the puppeteer

controlling them from the bridge above. The puppeteers

manipulate the strings as they lean over the rail and

send their voices down the slender threads. Tne latter

are scarcely visible to the audience against the back-

drop of black velvet.

That puppetry is still close to the hearts of

the people is indicated by the most common puppet plays

presented in .America, The fairy tales lead and the work

of the unknown authors is more popular than tne signed

play. Popular plays are; Jack and the Beanstalk ;

Goldilocks and the Three Bears ; Cinderella ; Hansel and

Gretel ; Red Riding Hood; The Three Wishes ; Aladdin

end the Wonderful Lamp: The Birthday of Infanta : Tha

King of the Golden River* The Hight Before Christmas*

SleepriiS Beauty: Treasure Island* Ali Baba and the For-

ty Tnjeyas • The Butterfly the t Stamped • The Dark For -

est * Don -Juan * Doctor Faust ; Don Quixote ;The Hmper -

or Jones : Gareth and Lyne tte * Hamlet * Huckleberry

Finn * Ivanhpe : The Land of the Man in tne Moon * Th°

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M°lon Thief : The Pip and tne Tar t • Puss in Boots ;

Ro bin Hood ; Ri o Van Winkle; Snow Whi te ; end There

was an Old Woman . It can be readily seen that these

plays can be better handled on the puppet-stage than on

the legitimate stage because of the unreal qualities of

them. it would be difficult to put on a plav like the

Three Bears . for instance.

Unquestionably the field of marionettes will

be tremendously developed in the immediate future, in-

spired by increasingly popular enthusiasm. There are at

l°est sixtepn professional marionette companies in the

United States. The achievements in the mechanical sid®

of the »rt are far in advance of anything that has been

accomplished in the past, and certainly the emotional el-

ement has reached a very high plane. In the United

States the marionette show has always been in good re-

pute. Instead of being a simple form of entertainment,

it has the reputation of belonging to those who appre-

ciate good art.

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V

CONCLUSION

The marionette has had a lone: history: he

has been found in the tomb of Tutankhamen; he was por-

ular in Athens and in Rome. The puppet belongs to the

present and to the past. Punchinello and his comrades

still uisport themselves in the restaurants of Italy

where there are two hundred permanent puppet thea.tres

and twice »s rasny traveling- puppet shows* th° favorite

plays of which are such old tales as the deeds of Chsrle

magne and his warriors. One cycle of these tales mav

last as long as two months. Paris still has its pup-

pet thea.tres on the side streets. Clunn Lewis delighted

modern England with his puppets* German children have

always known and loved them. In the Gr <ac* u colonv in

Chicago one finds the little puppets entertaining guests

in the cof fea-houses with Turkish shadow plays. Prom

foreigners San Francisco acauired a naive puppet theatre

New York City has many puppet theatres in its Italian

quarter. Gordon Craig had a pupp°t theatre along with

his other theatre in Florence. Dora Nussey had a puppet

theatre in London and Margaret Bully had one in Liver-

pool. The Petit Theatre in Brussels realized the dream

of men like Louis Picard and Thomas Braun. It is th°

Germans who manipulate these little m°n with the great-

est skill.

The modern movement which favors the puppet

is the revolt against the temperament of the actor, who

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all too often subordinates the part to his personali tv

.

Silence and obedience are the puppet’s traditions. He

serves the author: not himself.

By presenting historical plays, fairy tales,

myths and legends, these puppets add children to their

audiences. Today our children must learn to know art,

music and drama, We cannot expect them to en.ioy the

plays produced on the legitimate stage. The plots and

conversation of many plays do not even appeal to adults.

On the so-called legitimate stage one is at a. loss to

understand what most of the ’heaviness* is about. 0n»

must fear to take a child to such a production. Picture

shows do not materially aid a child's dramatic instinct.

Good drama may b® presented to them in the medium of the

marionette show. Then they can a®e good drama and at

the same time have the fun watching ’the dolls talk’. In

this modern world of ours, our imaginations languish.

Puppets transport us to fairyland for a little while and

we figi*t real dragons, talk to real kings, and marry

real princesses. 7/e are taken from the hurry of life to

the sweat adventure of all the old friends from th®

fairy books.

"There is a very general tendency in this

country to adapt for school use, all things that are of

educational vain®. The puppet play, it is true, could

be brought to school. While we would scarcely advocate

its introduction as mere entertainment, doubtless som®

subjects could be ys.rified end mad® ">ore interesting bv

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means of marionettes. For the large number of children

who never get beyond the grades, the deepening of im-

pressions, in literature and in history, would be of

special value as also for older children the writing of

dialogues and declaiming, and the art of fashioning pup-

pets, costumes, scenery and properties and in acting as

operator and showman. But better yet, put little pup-

pet theatres into settlements and playgrounds, into the

boys’ clubs and social centers and into the small nerk*

and recreation places. Let us have, too, the larger

sort of booth or "chatelet", such as may be found for

the season in fair and exhibition grounds abroad. If

less complete, they have at least the advantage in warm

weather, of being out of doors. Give fairy tales* and

comedies and open up for children a land of wonder and

delight. Finally, create a marionette theatre run on

high and artistic principles, even as Papa Schmidt’s has

been: and make it in the and a civic institution." (l)

Whether the few American theatres that stand

for artistic drama will adapt the puppet plays remains to

be seen, but it is certain that our children love them.

They have alwavs been a delight to the artists of the

world. Goethe often gave puppet shows for his friends.

The list of English and European dramatists who have writ-

ten -ouppet plays is long. Ben Jonson gives us an enter-

taining account of a puppet play in his "Bartholomew Fair".

Heyden composed some of his best music for the court pup-

pet-show. Gautier and Stevenson loved them and Maeter-

(l) Curtis: Dramatic Instinct in Education, PP. 194-195

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linck has written a volume entitled Drames r our Mario -

nettes . The puppet is assured of an audience of chil-

dren and artists forever.

Is it not interesting that this decade, which

has brought upon us so much that is unpleasant, should

also bring about the revival which represents the child-

heart of the race and must inevitably appeal to those

who have retained the simplicity? ’’The world is too

much with us rt. Surely it .is good to lose for an hour or

two the trials and tribulations which beset us. We can

do that in the puppet show. E^eape from realism is the

thing to be desired in this most realistic age.

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VI

EPILOGUE

The puppet-show: plaything of kings and of

beggars: joy of the Ancients and the Moderns: love of

children of all places in all times; the puppet-show i3

in town.

The little men do so much more than they did

for the Pharaohs and they have changed, too. Well, why

shouldn’t they? The people they amuse have changed.

We shall go to see the little fellows strut

about and do their work, of which they never seem to

tire

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There he is: yes, I can see it now: he is a

highly trained actor. He has had the best dramatic

coaching available for the past three thousand years. The

things he does are really good, too. He seems to realize

that uume things simply are not the best type of produc-

tion and he’ avoids them. His experience has taught him

that. You see, he does not want to offend th« littl°

children who always come to see him.

His tem^rnmont is a thing that is nothing but

a thing to admir°. He knows his part and h® plays it as

he is told. He does his work well and in return h° i.a

well cared for in all ways.

He spooks pH languages and is not too proud

to play in the Queerest of places.

Lpt us go to see the puppet-show. Yes, we n

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take the children without auction. They will pnioy it

and we need have no fear that the little men will off°nd.

They play the best and at all times try to reis° th°

standard of their profession. They are real artists.

How I welcome the sound, '’the puppet-show is in town.”

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VII

SUMMARY

Evidence in Asiatic, history shows that pun-

pets preceded tne regular drama. The fundamental comic

character of all plays may have had its origin from th°

puppet, Viduska. They gypsies in their wanderings have

carried puppet-shows to many parts of the globe. The

present day puppets of India are beautiful mechanisms

and can be made to go through intricate movements.

In Japan, living actors consider the manners

of the puppets worthy of imitation. One of Japan’s

greatest writers, Chikamatsu Monza.yemon, devoted his

time to writing puppet-plays. Realistic settings and

stage machinery were inspired by the puppets. The de-

cline in interest in the doll drama which took place in

the nineteenth century is over, and again puppets are an

essential par* of the drama. China, too, boasts of pup-

pet-plays as old as the country itself.

Shadow puppets were first used in Java for

anceetor worship. Persia does not admire this form of

entertainment as she once did. Today it is only the wan-

dering showman who plays to entertain the children, that

has his following. Turkish puppet-plays, obscene and

filled with broad .iokes, are a striking contrast to the

beautiful religious performances presented bv the Java-

nese puppets.

Europe has always led A«ie in all forms of

drama. The puppet-show, a recognized part of °r<tertain-

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ment iii ancient Greece, Italv, and Sicilv soon with the

other arts spread through Germany, Spain, France, and

England

.

Some of the European admirers of puppets are

Sand, Duse, Goethe, Mascagni, Shaw, and especially Gor-

don Craig. It is Craig who wishes to substitute the mar-

ionette for the living actor because of the absolute con-

trol he exercises over his facial expressions.

The United States did not have a. popular folk

drama to preserve by puppet-shows: but she felt the

need of them for imagination and children’s olavs. Tony

Sarg, noted cartoonist, takes plays that are difficult

to present with living actors and transforms them into

puppet-shows

.

In the ^est as well as the East there is a

revival in marionettes. California has puppet theatres

where such plavs as Cinderell a . The Emperor Jones , and

Hamlet have been presented. For fantastic scenes, the

puppet-show has the advantage over the legitimate stage.

The marionette field is a promising one and with time and

attention will develop into a vital part of our educative

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VIII

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bellinger, Martha Fletcher. A Short History of the

Drama , Henry Holt and Co, Hew York. 1927

Boswell, Young. People You Know

Boni and Liveright. Few York. 1924

Boulton, W. B, Amusements of Old Lon don

John C. Nimma. London. 1901

Buss, Kate. The Chinese Drama

The Four Seas Co. Boston, 1922

Chambers, E. K. The Mediaeval Stage V. II

Oxford University Press. 1925

Craig, Gordon. The Theatre Advancing

Little, Brown and Co. Boston. 1928

Curtis, Elnora. The Dramatic Instinc t in Education

The Riverside Press. Cambridge, Mass. 1914

Dickinson, Thomas. The Contemporary Drama in England

Little, Brown and Co. Boston. 1917

Frost, Thomas. Old Showmen and Old London Fairs

Finsley. London. 1874

Haigh, Arthur Elam. The Attic Theatre

Clarendon Press. Oxford. 1927

Hughes, Glen. The Story of the Theatre

Samuel French. London. 1928

Joseph, Helen. A Book of Marionettes

Huebsch. Few York. 1920

Mu.jamari, Asataro. Masterpieces of Chikamatsu

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E. P. Dulton and Co. Kew York. 1926

Pischel, Richard. The Home of the Puppet Plav

Luzac and Co. London. 1902

PERIODICALS:

Balance, John. A Note on Masks The Mask March 1908

Boynton, M. L. Marionettes for the Story Hour Library

Journal May 15, 1929

Brooks., George S. Memoirs of Marionettes Century March

1926

Craig, Gordon. The Mask. March 1908

Ferrign.i, P. (Yorrick) Purpe ts in Italy Vol.VI 1913-1914

Puppets in Spain Vol.VI 1913-1914

Puppets in Germany Vol. VI

1913-1914

Lawrence, 7/. J. Immortal Mr . Punch Living Age Jan. 22,

1921

MacPharlin, Paul. Anton Aicher * s Marionette Theatre in

Salzburg Drama April 1929

Matthews, Brand er. Puppets ; Old and Mew. Bookman Dec. 1914

Ridge, L. Krernborg 1 s Marionettes Dial Jan. 11, 1919

Sarg, Tony. How to make £ Mg r

i

on e 1

1

e Theatre Ladies’

Home Journal Dec. 1927

Sibley, H. Marione t tes ; The Ever Popular Puppet Show

Sunset Mov. 1928

Whipple, L. Italy Sends Us Marionettes Survey April 1,

1927.

Dolls Knocking at the Actor ’ s Door Literary Digest

17, 1919

BOSTON UNIVERSITY

1 1719 02574 8668